


Is it a deal?

by EpicMickeyX



Category: RWBY
Genre: BlackRose?, F/M, First Time, Mercury has feelings, Quicksilver pairing?, Slow Burn, Still pretty sexy but yeah, WHAAAT, also Emerald is here, i dunno, lots of sex though, not too graphic, they use some kinky stuff later on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-24
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-24 08:27:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 44,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8365096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EpicMickeyX/pseuds/EpicMickeyX
Summary: Somehow it comes to pass that Mercury and Ruby enter a sort of deal to keep quiet about the others whereabouts if Mercury agrees to take Ruby's V-Card. It's not the most well thought out arrangement but if it keeps her quiet he's not sure he can refuse. 
So, in essence, they partake in a lot of sex and Mercury is not good at keeping feelings from socking him in the jaw. Whoops.It's not that graphic but I think it does a good job of getting the point across





	1. Firsts.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is actually a repost from fanfiction and, surprise, surprise it's my first fic uploaded here cause for some reason I am proud of this pile of trash. So yeah. Enjoy that.

"We should do something." It was more of a command than a suggestion, Mercury turned and glared over at the smaller woman, situated on his bed.

"Really? I could have thought of that." Mercury spat, the woman glared and crossed her arms.

"Mercury, we can't exactly trust each other not to rat the other out, we need to make a deal." She spoke with authority. Mercury sighed and looked away before looking back at the redhead

"I didn't exactly intend to be seen with you, Ruby! What is it going to take to buy your silence, I don't want to be skinned alive by my employer and you don't want to lose your team." He growled, Ruby glowered.

"How do I know you won't betray our deal?" she asked darkly, the white fabric on her shoulder sagged down her arm a bit as she moved to resting her hands on the comforter. She wasn't such a little girl now…

"If I told Cinder that I was with you, she'd kill, ask questions later!" he snapped gesturing wildly at her in exasperation. This is not how he imagined the weapons expo to go, he was supposed to do recon, take note of anything good, and report back. Not run into snotty little red hoods with a bone to pick! Ruby leaned back and rolled her eyes

"Yeah, yeah…" she huffed dismissively. Mercury scowled at her and she looked at him curiously

"What. Is it. Going to take, Ruby" he growled out, Ruby cocked her head and sat up.

"Would you sleep with me?" she asked quietly, a red tint spreading across her face. Mercury coughed, his eyes going wide

"Excuse me!?" he snapped. Ruby let out a small 'eep' before hiding in her hood

"I want to know what it feels like ok!? I can't ask Jaune or Ren! Jaune's broken up about Pyrrha and Ren is Nora's guy! I figure if you're gonna have to keep things quiet, why not guarantee it with it being something embarrassing!?" she squealed out. Mercury blinked

"Ruby…you're like…18…you could wai-" Mercury began, a worried expression adorning his face, Ruby cut him off.

"I'm 18 and fighting a war you helped start! I want to know what…what sex feels like Mercury!" she protested, standing up as if to challenge him. He frowned and shook he head

"No! That's a stupid request, there is no way I am going to pleasure you just to keep you quiet" he snarled jabbing a finger at her. Ruby glowered

"Why not!? This should be simple! All you have to do is sleep with me, which should be easy for you." Ruby hissed, Mercury sighed, choosing not to take offense at her comment and ruffled his hair lightly.

"Why haven't you tried finding someone…nicer? Ruby waiting for the right guy is not as hard as it sounds." Mercury quipped looked back to her. She rolled her eyes

"It is when everyone thinks you're some kind of killing machine…Not that I've had time to date." Ruby huffed. Mercury bit his lip and studied her face, a lot of the baby fat she had outgrown, he could tell she was more fit that she had been a Beacon.

"…How many times do you want me to please you?" he grumbled lowly; Ruby blinked owlishly and looked up at him.

"Whaa-? OH. Ah. Every time we see each other again?!" she cried with a nervous squeak. Mercury glared at the floor before he nodded

"Fine. But. I have one condition, nothing weird or over the top. Let's try to keep things simple." He hummed. Ruby grinned nervously before looking to the side,

"So…how should we start things?" she asked quietly. Mercury groaned inwardly

"I guess strip down…this is going to be so awkward" he sighed, undoing his belt buckle. Ruby obliged quickly, obviously an eagerness had gotten into her. He never quite understood the urge to lose one's virginity so quickly. He had held onto his until he was 19, having lost it to Emerald trying to boost her declining spirits. Now he was about to trade off sex and Ruby's virginity to buy her silence on them having seen each other offhandedly. Though he couldn't take a chance on Cinder finding out from somewhere…her behavior had become downright…tyrannical in the last few months. Not to mention the paranoia setting in.

"Wait, if we have sex doesn't that make our situation wor-" he froze and Ruby's pale skin came into view. She hadn't even left her bra on, just the panties. He straightened up immediately, she had small, rounded breasts. Each adorned with a small, pink dollop where they peaked and became the nipples. She seemed to be openly happy with their current predicament, though his staring made her flush.

"I think of it like this, as long as we do this in secret we should be ok, and neither of us wants to tell the other's superiors that you were inside me taking my V-card?" Ruby teased, the tension in the air growing thick. Mercury sighed again and pulled his shirt over his head, Ruby watched, her tongue between her teeth. Mercury rubbed the back of his neck and looked away

"How do you know I won't just tell her anyway? I could take your V-card, and just tell my employer that you were at the Expo, we were seen together and I rutted you into the mattress so hard I broke your pelvis, also her team is currently running around the country doing good deeds and spreading sunshine everywhere they go!" Mercury sneered making a face at her. Ruby looked away and covered her breasts, her shoulders hunching and she sat on the bed; Mercury leaned against the wall.

"…It goes both ways also…how do I know you won't give away where I am…what I was doing here?" Mercury murmured, Ruby turned red, all the way down to her collar bones.

"Because I would never bring up my personal activities with my team, especially not if they're with…a technical enemy…" Ruby mumbled. He groaned and rubbed his face,

"I will never understand you! I don't understand why you want me to do this to keep you quiet, in all honestly I could just tell everyone we fucked! And then betray everything you are trying to protect!" Mercury stormed forward, placed his hands on either side of her thighs, glaring down at her as she moved to cower before a firm glare formed. She sat up, uncovering her chest and pushing on his chest, he was surprised to find she was stronger than he expected.

"Because I assumed you were a decent human! I assumed you wouldn't boast about sexual escapades and keep things between us!" she growled. Mercury glared and turned away from her, running his hand through his hair with a heavy sigh.

"Ruby…you don't want to lose your first time to a guy like me, there is someone out there. Trust me, I-" he began, Ruby cut him off

"Have you found your someone?" she asked. He looked back at her and frowned

"I thought I had…my first time was with her…but as it turns out she just needed to vent. Kinda like how you want it now…" he growled. Ruby looked away

"Well…I haven't found that person, if anything…I thought it was you…before, y'know, everything." she mumbled awkwardly. Mercury inhaled sharply and looked at her in surprise

"You thought- Wha!? How do you even-" Mercury placed his hands to his temples, pacing angrily. Ruby glared and pulled on his shirt before standing before him

"Because you were handsome! Because you were charming, and I thought you were decent! You could fight well and to be honest I didn't mind you were socially awkward! That boot thing- That weird sniffing habit, I thought 'Hey maybe it's like me and my weapons!' I thought maybe you were that guy I would be willing to let touch me intimately! Then everything went to shit!" she shouted shoving him lightly. Mercury blinked and tensed, his hands hovering, he wasn't sure what to do. Ruby sniffled, hot tears running down her cheeks

"I thought after the festival…I was going to ask for at least one date…" she huffed. Mercury frowned and sighed quietly before resting his hands on her shoulders gently

"…I will do my best to deliver…you were right about keeping things private but…Ruby I still don't think this is ok…" Mercury murmured. Ruby rubbed her face with the sleeves of his shirt and inhaled

"If I want it to stop I will tell you…" she murmured; Mercury chuckled lightly before shaking his head.

"You are…determined, Ruby Rose." He sighed before looking down to her smaller frame, the size of his shirt was loose on the sides and exposed her shoulders, milky skin, and sharp collar bones.

"Go ahead…and lay down on the bed." He ordered moving away from her and pulling off his gloves and shuffling his jeans down to his thighs before he hesitated. Ruby was settling into the bed, his shirt still covered most of her, her eyes were on anything but him. Mercury sighed and removed his boots before shoving his pants down to his ankles and shucking them off, he glanced over to Ruby and froze, she was staring.

"So that's how you- Wow. I feel really, Really. Dumb." She hummed looking to her lap, Mercury worried his lip before crawling up the bed and hovering above her.

"I- I can give an insincere apology because fighting with your sister…that was thrilling and I don't regret framing her as it was my employer's orders…but I can say. I am sorry to hear she lost her arm…I know how it feels to lose a limb…in my case two." He offered softly, Ruby's hands moved slowly before resting her hands on his hips. Her thumbs falling into the divots of the V that lead down to his groin, he frowned a bit before looking to her face, she looked in awe.

"…Have you never see another man, nearly naked?" he asked with a smirk, Ruby swallowed thickly and shook her head.

"Only…in magazines my sister owned, really." She murmured her thumbs tracing the bones of his hips, her nails brushed against him gently. He shivered, surprise etching into his facial features, he figured he wouldn't able to get it up unless he started jerking first. The fact Ruby grazing his hip bones had actually managed to arouse him in the slightest was a surprise to him, he shifted his hips and pressed into her pelvic region. His hands moved to the hem of his shirt, Ruby's flesh was soft and smooth underneath it. He'd already seen her breasts and the milky skin, but her, in his shirt that was too big for her actually brought a small smile to his face. She gasped slightly, as he pressed into her farther, he smirked and pushed the shirt up all the way to her breasts; his thumbs pressing to the underside of either of them. The shirt came off and Ruby flushed, lifting her chin up and leaning back into the pillow.

"Ah-!" she keened softly and Mercury couldn't help but sputter out a laugh.

"Really? I haven't even touched your nipples and your already making noise." He laughed with a wry smile; Ruby puffed her cheeks and shoved him playfully. Mercury narrowed his eyes darkly and rocked his hips up into her, she coughed out a noise that sounded like a strangled gasp.

"I assume that felt good?" he hummed into the shell of her ear, she nodded, a small jerk to affirm him. He hesitated, careful of his next move, another rock up into her and this time a gentle nip on her earlobe; Ruby whined a bit, her hips moved to meet his. A warm spike of pleasure spread out as she pressed against his growing erection. This was becoming quite the turn of events, he hadn't expected himself to behave in such a manner, not with Ruby. He moved the nibble on her ear to a chaste kiss on her neck, then on the collar bone, his hips pulled back and he sat up. His thumbs trailed dangerously close to Ruby's little buds of pink on her breasts, she was trembling, her eyes closed in an expression of what looked to an outsider; agony. Mercury on the other hand, knew better, she was overwhelmed. He doubted a girl like Ruby, sheltered by her family, would even think of taking pleasure into her own hands. He smirked and pressed his thumbs into her nipples before squeezing gently; a soft gasp and an arch of her back told him he was doing well.

"I will admit, maybe this wasn't such a bad idea." He stated lowly, Ruby hummed in agreement, lifting her hips. Her hands had fallen away to grapple at the comforter, Mercury stopped his groping and moved her hands to his hips.

"You can dig in…I've felt worse." He huffed moving to sit on his legs, he shivered as the cold metal pressed into what was left of his thighs; he pulled Ruby's legs up onto the metal to situate them for the time being. Ruby squeaked and jerked her legs away at the cool touch, Mercury frowned and looked to her face with a soft glare.

"Sorry it's not exactly skin to skin…" he growled darkly, Ruby shook her head, a dark red flush settling her cheeks as she pressed her legs back into the metal slowly. Mercury watched, the heat that had pooled from before began to bubble and boil as he watched her face contort in that same 'agony' from before; she liked how metal felt. Her hips rolled against nothing as she moaned quietly, shifting her legs while Mercury tried to process what he was witnessing, she gasped and continued to roll against air until he moved quickly pressing himself between her hips. A sharp inhale and he groaned, he hated to admit it even further but this felt good. It was better almost than his first time with Emerald, anytime a piece of his leg would brush her she was hiss and jerk away in complaint. Ruby, however; relished in the feeling. Mercury leaned down to meet her grinds in rhythm, propping his arms on the elbow on either side of Ruby's head, he had a perfect opportunity to resume kissing her neck. The chaste kisses quickly became lingering, long, languid kisses that prompted Mercury to graze her skin with his teeth gently as the pace picked up. He would let out low moans and hisses as the strain of his underwear became an irritation, he could feel the wetness from Ruby's sex beginning to seep through her own panties and wet his boxer-briefs. He moved back, the rhythm breaking instantly, a loud whine from Ruby as she sat up in protest.

"No fair-" she began, only to watch Mercury hurriedly push the waist band of his underwear down to where thighs became metal. He sighed loudly, his face scrunching up in pleasure as the irritation subsided immediately. Ruby flushed all over, her eyes darting everywhere, Mercury hummed with a smirk as he worked his underwear off his metal prosthetics careful not to snag them. He sat back on his legs and hissed as the more sensitive part of him graced metal; Ruby looked to Mercury finally and he raised his eyebrows playfully.

"Your opinion of the first man you've ever seen fully naked?" he asked moving toward her now, Ruby hesitated and did her best not to look or stare. She traced the V of his hips that lead down to the shaft, pointing up at the ceiling as he sat, when he began to move she gulped slowly. Mercury propped himself above her are tilted his head, a sly look in his eyes;

"Now I have to ask, did you bring condoms or lube?" he murmured silkily. Ruby blinked, her eyes went wide and she sputtered out a tiny squeak

"No." Mercury chuckled and leaned down to kiss her neck, trialing down to the valley of her breasts before pulling back

"Of course not." He mused darkly. Ruby felt her stomach drop, 'Mercury didn't intend to…the risk-' Ruby's thoughts began to race. She knew what it took to make a baby, she hadn't thought about this at all, she cursed herself quietly at the mess she had made. She had soaked through her panties from Mercury's ministrations and had asked this much of him. He looked like he intended to make good on his promise, she had to tell him 'No' before it was too late. Otherwise, she didn't know what else to do. Mercury hummed and smirked a bit

"You're lucky my old man gave one bit of solid advice. Keep a good one in your wallet." Mercury stated before popping of the bed, Ruby sat up in a panic looking over to Mercury pulling his wallet out of his pants pocket. He held up a little foil packet and looked over to Ruby playfully.

"If there is a next time, you will need to bring the goodies." He ordered, tearing the packet with his teeth and retrieving the rubber inside. Ruby felt the warmth return in an instant, her legs felt shaky, her stomach felt tight and coiled. She bit her lip and squirmed as Mercury rolled the condom on carefully, he knew neither could afford to end up as parents, better to be slow and careful than be quick and break the only condom he had on him. He was not running to the drug store at full mast trying not to look like a creep. Mercury crawled up the bed again, returning to his position above her with a cocky smile, she huffed and smacked his arm playfully.

"I didn't know I'd get this far!" she protested with a giggle, Mercury rolled his eyes

"I'm surprising myself by letting it get this far." He gruffed returning to her neck to playfully bite at her jugular. She gasped and jerked her hips, rubbing along his erection; he bite a little harder than he meant with a low moan. He pulled back and hissed looking down at her

"Are you sure this is your first time? I feel you know way too much…" he grumbled. Ruby hummed and shook her head,

"No….I read about it…once…or twice." She mumbled, looking away from his face in an embarrassed blush. Mercury blinked and began to chuckle again before sighing heavily and looping his fingers with her panties and pulling them down to her knees gently.

"You wanna meet me halfway?" he hummed, Ruby complied and slide them off the rest of the way, Mercury smirked and propped her legs onto the metal once more. Another soft moan and Mercury felt that heat nearly overflow; Ruby was incredible. He looked down to her sex and snickered a bit, Ruby glared

"What!?" she demanded, sitting up to try and look at what was so amusing. Mercury shook his head dismissively,

"It's just…normally virgins…ah…from what I have known; they aren't as well kept." He gestured down to the patch of curls above the folds of her vagina. Ruby coughed out a noise and glared up at him

"You look pretty well trimmed yourself!" she snapped throwing a hand at his groin to gesture to the trail of silver hair that led down to his penis. He shrugged and sent another smirk her way before he descended on her, pressing the shaft to her folds and grinding once. Ruby let out a yelp, her hands moving to his sides and latching on. He studied her face for a minute, she looked to still be enjoying herself. Mercury frowned and pressed his forehead to hers, prompting her to open her eyes.

"This is where we stop if you want me to stop." He offered softly, sincerity in his voice. He wouldn't enter if she wanted to stop here, he could pleasure her to completion and deal with his blue balls later. Ruby looked up and met his gaze, her eyes looked like molten silver while his looked like worn metal. Ruby nodded slowly

"Don't stop." She murmured softly, Mercury's frown deepened.

"It's going to hurt." He warned, Ruby gulped and nodded again

"It'll be ok." She replied. Mercury sighed slowly before pulling her lips to meet his, he moved his hips back and moved one hand to her opening; two fingers spread her slickened folds easily. He pushed one finger in and she broke the kiss with a loud moan, her breathing a sharp rhythm of gasping and moaning out her exhales. Mercury pulled his hand back and thrust the finger back in with a little force behind it. He watched her cry out again, her eyes going wide, pricking with tears of what he hoped was pleasure. He pulled back again and pressed a second finger against her opening. Ruby whimpered quietly as he moved slowly, moving to stretch her gently, carefully. Like he had learned too.

When two fingers made it in fully, he moved them in a thrusting motion to loosen the tension and prepare the entrance, he didn't want to hurt her, but he didn't want her to forget him so easily. He smirked and kissed her again, swallowing her moan as he hooked his fingers inside her and pressed down, he had never found the fabled G-Spot Emerald had told him about. He hadn't found it with Ruby either but he supposed what made her come was his thumb grazing the clitoris and massaging it with avid pressure as his tongue ran along her teeth and his hooked fingers pleasured her insides. The gushing of fluids and the stuttering of her hips and the moans he swallowed from her told him of her release. He pulled back, a string of saliva breaking as she gasped out for air and the euphoria clouded her mind. Mercury grinned

"Should I still enter or…are you done?" he asked, eyeing her carefully. She heaved her chest to regain air and he was taken aback when she grabbed his hips and jerked him forward, he removed his hand from her sex and was careful to wipe his hand off before touching another part of her, settling it on her hip.

"I want you…to stick it in…" she breathed, her head lolling back. Mercury snickered a bit and kissed to nape of her neck

"We gotta work on your dirty talk." He breathed moving the hand on her hip to his penis and positioned the head at her entrance.

"There is no going back after this, do you understand?" he asked glancing up at her, Ruby nodded and smiled at him.

"I know." She hummed softly; Mercury sighed and pushed forward. He hissed and bit his lip as he inched forward, careful to go slow, especially for Ruby's sake. Emerald hadn't been a virgin, but he had learned from his father that a virgin had a barrier that would be broken the first time she had sex. Mercury hesitated when he met resistance and Ruby let out a whimper, one of pain. He perked his head up to check on her and she nodded again

"I can handle this." She breathed Mercury nodded and kissed her nape again

"Then you need to relax, it'll get better, promise." He murmured propping himself up to get better leverage and he pulled back slowly, preparing to jerk forward and break her hymen. Ruby took a deep breath and squirmed a bit before moving her hands to his shoulders, one carding through his hair.

"K-kiss me first." She mumbled, Mercury did as she asked and kissed her gently before jerking his hips forward until he met no resistance and was fully housed inside her, Ruby made small noises of discomfort as she adjusted, the constant tightening and forced relaxation of her walls made Mercury groan lowly, his hands settling into a spot beneath her armpits as they dug into the comforter.

"Ruby, I won't move until you tell me. Do you understand?" he asked softly; Ruby nodded vigorously and made a whine of irritation before tugging on his hair.

"Move." She commanded, a strain on her voice, Mercury pulled back; not fully removing himself from her, before shoving himself forward and rolling his hips in an upward motion. Ruby gasped and a low moan escaped her; Mercury smiled cheekily and repeated the motion, a little faster this time. Ruby hummed out another noise, a silky moan. Mercury grinned and continued the motion, building a steady rhythm, he moved her legs up past his hips gaining a better angle. Ruby cried out and arched her back in pleasure, he smirked as she practically wailed out her approval. Her hands flailed a bit, she didn't know what to do with them it seemed once she'd pulled them from his shoulders;

"Touch your breasts. It'll feel great." He offered, one of her hands wandered up to her breast and squeezed. Another moan; Mercury grinned and picked up his pace, the rolling motion of his hips and the feeling and warmth Ruby had enveloped him in was blissful. He nipped at her shoulders and Ruby's hips began to grind back on his shaft at it penetrated her repeatedly, her moans were becoming long and throaty, as she began to stutter the noises with little gasps and keens. Mercury grunted with a particularly hard thrust and Ruby yelped her walls going taunt in her second orgasm; Mercury growled, his movements slowed. His last few thrusts into her tightened womanhood allowed him release, it pooled into the condom and he sighed, his muscles going limp and he fell onto her, his head coming to rest on her collar. He hummed out a noise, and Ruby affirmed it with a grunt.

"That wasn't as bad as I thought…" he murmured kissing her neck softly; Ruby giggled a bit.

"Why were you so hesitant anyway?" she asked sleepily, he looked up and saw her eyelids begin to droop. He moved and pulled out of her, a slick pop, he moved up to face her and kissed her forehead. Ruby closed her eyes and her head lulled to the side

"Because I'm the villain." He stated gently, he crawled off the bed and removed the condom carefully and cleaned up. He pulled the comforter from under Ruby and checked for blood, when he found none her covered her and began to look for his underwear. The lamp light was dim and the carpet was dark in color, he probably wouldn't be able to find them until morning; a soft whine alerted him and he looked over to Ruby. Her face was contorted into a frown

"Please don't leave just yet…won't you stay?" she asked softly, he sighed and scratched his cheek in thought. Ruby watched him carefully, her eyes would slide closed for a few seconds before opening again, 'She must be a restless sleeper' Mercury thought with an inward groan. He pulled back the comforter and laid down beside her, careful not to snag his prosthetics on the sheets or blanket.

"Happy?" he asked with a tried glare, Ruby smiled a bit before scooting closer and resting her head against his arm. He jerked in surprise, his eyes going wide

"I don't love you. You understand that right? We're not lovers." He stated carefully. Ruby sighed softly and nodded, her eyes closing

"I know." She replied gently. Mercury felt his chest tighten ever so slightly before settling onto his side, his back to Ruby, and tried to fall asleep. Ruby made no protest to the change and settled on her side of the bed, a tense silence forming between the two until they finally both drifted off.


	2. Sex Jelly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So since this a repost, it's funny to me, but I made a note on FF.net I had no idea if there was a difference between lube and sex jelly. There was!

Mercury hadn't expected their next encounter to be within the same month as the first, Ruby looked just as surprised as him. A Grimm crushed under her feet a few yards away, her team surrounding her as the Grimm fell in succession, Mercury wasn't supposed to be there but unfortunately, fate had a different idea. He ducked behind a wall, a slight panic settling into his gut, if her team saw him he'd be in for a long fight. Knowing Ruby had seen him meant a different kind of interaction; however, his stomach dropped a bit but at the same time a familiar heat had pooled there. He leaned against the wall, he needed to come up with some excuse to give Cinder on why he won't return today as he had been ordered too. He could just leave now, ignore the deal, but surprisingly he was looking forward to seeing Ruby again. When he had returned from their first intimate night, he had felt a bit lighter than before.

Work had gone easier even a few days after their night together, his muscles didn't ache or feel tense at all up until Emerald pulled him aside. In an instant, all the aches came back and a lump of guilt formed in his throat. She had smiled warmly up at him, and pressed against him, showing her intentions with a gentle kiss on his nape. Cinder must have said something, or done something. Something that had put Emerald in a good mood, but he had felt guilty as she treated him kindly.

"Em…" he had mumbled, the lump made it hard to speak; they hadn't gotten very far into their session. Mercury had stopped, mid-sucking lazily on her nipple before she growled a bit and jerked up into him. She was irritated he hadn't been into the session and left in a fury, a loud huff of

"I'll do it myself." He had swallowed back the lump to attempt an apology but there was no point, sex with Emerald…had held no appeal to him at that moment. But now pressed up against a rough brick wall in order to stay hidden, that lightness and warmth began to mix again in his gut. He was eager to meet Ruby again, to touch her. He sighed heavily and pulled out his scroll and sent a quick text to the Fall Maiden herself,

"Red's team is in the village. I can't move until they depart." It was short and to the point. He waited for her reply, an order,

"Stay out of sight." Mercury smirked a bit and pocketed his scroll. That eagerness from before was quickly becoming a low thrum of excitement in his veins. Another notification, this time, from Ruby. It was an address, a hotel room number, and a time. Mercury hurried down the alley way, headed toward the address specified in the text. It was a small inn, out of the way and quaint he supposed, it was nice. The clerk looked up as he entered, he could see the row of keys behind him, the room number Ruby specified was open.

"I need room 25. I won't be the only one using it, someone else will be joining me later tonight." He stated fishing out his wallet to pay for the night, the clerk nodded and filed the transaction, the key was handed off and Mercury nodded his thanks. The room was small, one bed, and a small tv poised on a small table opposite the bed. He had an hour or so to kill, he bounced on his heels and removed his heavy jacket and hung it on the coat rack. He sat on the bed and began to unequip his greaves, the silence was deafening it at this point, he almost felt bad that it would be ruined by a chorus of noises. Ruby's soft, silken voice…and then Mercury's low, guttural moans. He sat back on his hands and watched the door with a lazy stare; Ruby wouldn't be along for a while. He flopped back and closed his eyes, intent on taking a nap.

The door flew open with a loud grunt of metal, and loud shout as a tumble of bags hit the floor; Mercury lurched up and blinked the sleep from his eyes.

"Ruby!?" He grunted warily, glaring in confusion at the bags on the floor, Ruby flushed and gathered up the contents and set them down next to the tv. Mercury looked at the bags curiously and Ruby flushed and pulled at her skirt.

"I didn't know your size so I bought a box of each." She huffed, Mercury frowned and Ruby worried her lips,

"Condoms." She stated bluntly. Mercury blinked, eyes going wide, he had asked her to buy them after all.

"I-…I don't know what to say at that." He murmured looking back to the bags, Ruby puffed her cheeks and fell face first on to the bed.

"Would you like to rest a bit before we get intimate?" he mused leaning in close to her ear, taking on a low tone. She looked at him with a warm smile, a shy blush on her cheek, a small nod.

"If that's ok…?" she trailed off, her smile falling a bit; Mercury smirked and nodded in reply.

"I know you had quite the day…do you want to nap or just lay here?" he asked with a smirk, Ruby hummed and rolled on to her back.

"Actually…can I ask you something?" she looked over at him, her eyes a dull, gray in the dim light of the room. Mercury frowned

"Depends on what the question is." He replied, folding his hands over his stomach for lack of a better place to put them. Ruby bit the inside of her cheek and huffed looking to the ceiling, another dusting of pink on her face,

"Who was your first?" she asked quietly. Mercury tensed, his eyes snapping to the ceiling as well, he hadn't expected that; but then again, he could tell why she was curious. He was her first, but she was not his first. He sighed and combed his bangs back a bit with his fingers

"Emerald." He stated with a grunt, he swore her heard her gasp a bit. He looked at her and chuckled, her face was bright red, her hand covering her mouth, she hadn't meant to gasp.

"Surprised?" he asked cheekily, she nodded and pulled her hand away, she looked at him with wide eyes and a slightly agape mouth.

"You and Emerald were a thing!?" she blurted, her mind feeding her a million thoughts, Mercury frowned and shook his head.

"Not all relationships that involve sex are…loving. Take ours, for example, we're what some people call 'Friends with benefits' but to me, this is more casual sex than romantic." He explained, making air quotations around the friends and benefits part. Ruby nodded a bit and returned to laying on the bed, her hands picking at the quilted comforter. She hummed lightly before looking at him again,

"Can I ask how was it?" her eyes innocent yet curious, Mercury raised his brow a bit.

"You just did." He teased before looking up to the ceiling, the popcorn ceiling style seemed to be the holder of their attention today. His expression darkened a bit, he hadn't thought too long on how it had started with Emerald…or how it had been. She liked it rough, quick, and satisfying. Emerald had hated if his legs touched her or if he slowed down to a pace he liked; it didn't help she hadn't known it was his first time until he had grinned at her like a big dope. The ecstasy of post-orgasm settling into his core, she didn't do cuddling, she didn't do after sex comfort; she cleaned up, she left. Mercury caught on immediately, that having sex did not mean love. He had liked Emerald a great deal, having known her barely a year, yet she was the first woman his age he had really come to know.

"My first time…was rough. Em, likes sex to be quick and hard, she likes to be bitten. I was…excited. I had liked her for a while at that point and when she showed up at my door, I couldn't refuse her. She wanted to sleep with me and I thought that meant love. My old man had given the bare bones sex talk, I understood where kids come from, yeah? So I knew that sex plus love equaled kids. So, in that basic way of thinking…I thought sex meant to love in some essence. It does." Mercury made a gesture to quiet Ruby who looked ready to protest.

"It just doesn't mean love to everyone. Em asking me to sleep with her…meant nothing. Call me naïve but I thought she liked me, as in loved. Because she wanted to have sex, so…my first time was confusing as hell. She had no idea I was a virgin, all I knew was I put my penis into something and wriggle around. Emerald was not happy with that, let me tell you." He chuckled loudly, Ruby giggled with him and smiled widely, watching him talk.

"So she showed me the ropes, thinking I was just a dumbass I guess. I didn't hit her she was my first till I got all mushy and dopey on her. Don't judge, but I was never exactly one to yank one out." He looked at Ruby with a smirk, she frowned in confusion. He rolled his eyes and sighed

"Jerk off, masturbate." He made a gesture to his groin, not an appropriate one but Ruby got the gist of it and flushed before nodding at him to continue.

"So in broad terms, it was my first real orgasm with a woman, then it all clicked. It wasn't magical like a lot of things make it out, guys tend to not linger on their first but she was the first for everything…my first kiss, first love…I really, really liked her. I tried getting close afterward but she made it very apparent we were just…sex friends?" he made a face and shrugged a bit.

"Does that answer your question?" he looked at Ruby who nodded, resting her head on her arm as she stretched it out across the bed. Mercury grinned

"So how was your first time?" he asked, she glared and swatted his chest playfully.

"You were there!" she snapped teasingly, he snickered.

"Really!? I can't seem to remember!" he rolled on top of her waist and placed his hands on either side of her head, her breathing picked up in pace.

"How'd you ditch the rest of your team?" he asked curiously, she looked at him smugly,

"I said I needed to be alone for a little…unlike some people, my team gets boundaries." She lifted her legs a bit and pressed her knees to his hips. He smirked

"So are we going to continue the 20 questions Mercury Black addition or are you ready to keep up with this stupid deal?" he cooed softly, leaning down the best he could to whisper in her ear. Ruby inhaled slowly and lifted her hips in a rocking motion, a deep red settling into her skin again; Mercury grinned a bit.

"Did I leave a good impression on you? It looks as if just thinking about what we could do is ruffling your feathers." He cooed in a sultry tone, he couldn't really deny it either that he was looking forward to this. It was only their second meeting and he was already beginning to memorize the curve of her breasts and hips, much like he had done with Emerald, though there had never been a tender moment between them. The same went for Ruby, though he felt nothing romantic for her, he felt it necessary to be gentle with her. She was smaller than him, softer than him, a rose by nature; if he wanted to make it cheesy and ruin the moment. He was poisonous, a black stain on their world, he wasn't good for her.

"I've actually thought about what happened quite a bit…it's a bit irritating because I can't do anything about how it feels…down there…" she flushed and tilted her head in embarrassment. Mercury blinked and held back his laughter before smiling devilishly at her,

"My, my, Ruby is quite the kinky girl?" he asked teasingly before sliding off the bed and moving to the sacks that had been forgotten until them. He pulled out numerous boxes and glared a bit, he felt a bit flattered she had bought 'XL's and 'L's but Mercury was about average, coming in at just a little over.

"Average will be fine from now on, you can return the rest." He waved the box of correctly sized condoms at her, hoping she'd remember the brand. She had picked out a good type, the package promised 'Skin on skin feel, all the protection'. Which wasn't a lie, technically, there was that 1% chance of knocking her up but he highly doubted that. He grabbed the other boxes and went to place them back into the bag and paused, looking at the bottle still in the bag.

"…you bought sex jelly?" he asked, looking back to Ruby with a curious frown. She made a small 'eep' noise and hid in her hood immediately

"I didn't know which one to get so I just grabbed one!" she protested, her skin bright, red. Mercury sighed

"You were looking for lube, not this." He stated reading the label carefully. She'd grabbed a stimulus one; icy, cold to burning, hot. Mercury flushed and held up the bottle

"Do you want to use it?" he asked with a wry smile. Ruby peaked from under her hood, her face a complete giveaway.

"Oh, so you didn't just grab this, you picked it out." He smirked, a knowing look settling into his eyes. Ruby flopped back onto the bed with a loud whine

"It sounded pleasant! I liked how metal felt on my skin and-" he cut her off by pinning her under him. He kissed her neck and slid one knee between her thighs slowly.

"You don't have to explain it, we can use it. It doesn't say we can't in your silly rules of, sex and don't tell." He sneered before propping up on his elbows playfully. Ruby nodded and looked away before moving her hands up and resting them on his hips, her thumbs slipped under the fabric of his shirt and found the V again, little circles and the occasional bite of her nails told Mercury it was ok to begin.

"Shall I undress you?" he asked leaning back to pull his shirt off. Ruby made a noise in the back of her throat and nodded with a wide grin

"C-can you go slowly? I've never…had someone do that before." She asked, her hips squirming a bit under him. Mercury smirked and kissed her cheek and ground his hips down to meet hers,

"Of course, I can do slow." He hummed softly, his finger tracing along the red belt that made the hem of the top of her dress. Ruby's breath hitched as his fingers moved to the buckle and slowly undid it; Mercury grinned as she tensed when he loosed the belt and tugged at her top. The corset kept the dress in place and he huffed playfully,

"So many buckles and layers…it might take hours for me to get them all off." He cooed, Ruby glared

"I stripped down in 5 minutes last time you can make it last 30." She ordered with a quirk of an eyebrow. Mercury leaned back and raised his hands up defensively

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you had time set aside for this." He grinned mischievously and Ruby sat up to meet him and jabbed at his chest, irked at his behavior. Mercury smirked and caught her in his arms and removed her cape in one swift movement, Ruby gasped and he snickered.

"You played right into that one." He stared going to the buckles on her arms, he pushed her back onto the bed and started nipping at the exposed skin of her chest in between undoing the straps on her sleeves. He unclipped the latch on her neck the kept the white shirt together in the front; he leaned back and scowled

"Seriously Ruby, this is kinda ridiculous." He grunted gesturing to her corset, belt, stockings, and shoes.

"I have no idea, really how to make this enjoyable for you." He offered with a sigh, Ruby flushed and looked to the side before sitting up and undoing her corset and holding the dress in place before laying back down.

"That one's gone, so you can-" she scrunched up her face a bit and looked to the ceiling;

"You can grope me, I guess." She mumbled. Mercury smirked and crawled over her, almost like a predator who had found something helpless. He cocked his head to the left and one hand brushed her hair behind her ear, the other trailed up her side, teasing the fabric of her dress gently. Ruby whimpered a bit

"Mercury." She whined softly, he raised his eyebrows smugly

"What?" he mused in a sing-song tone. Ruby puffed her cheeks and sighed irritatedly at him before she moved like she was going to touch her breasts. Mercury caught her hands and scooted back a bit as to no crush Ruby's pelvic region. He placed her hands to the side and looked at her,

"Keep them to the side ok?" he ordered before tugging down her dress to rest just under her breasts. He smirked a bit, nothing had changed there, her nipples were still a pert, pink dots on the small mounds of flesh. She inhaled sharply as he brushed his thumb over a nipple and pressed down, adding just the slightest amount of pressure. He began rubbing small circles and squeezing rhythmically into her breast, the one he was neglecting he moved toward hesitantly. Small moans and Ruby's squirming hips made him pause before he leaned down and pinched her free nipple between his teeth followed by a light suck. Ruby squealed and thrust her hips upwards, her eyes blowing wide. He snickered and kissed the valley between her breasts before moving back to sucking eagerly and kneading the other. Ruby moaned and gasped, trying to keep oxygen in her lungs, though the electric pulses moving up her spine with each suck or gentle twist of her nipples were making it hard. Mercury circled her breast with his tongue before pulled back with a sultry smirk. Ruby exhaled with a low whine, Mercury slid off the bed and smirked teasingly retrieving the tube of sex jelly and opening the correct box of condoms and pulling one off the strip. Her turned back to her and sighed, Ruby was trying to toe off her right boot, the other one having already been tossed to the floor.

"Should I help or…?" he asked watching her struggle

"N-no! Just, I dunno, take off your pants!" she huffed flailing her leg in anger. He rolled his eyes and set the sex jelly and condom on the bed and pulled her boot off and set it down, he grabbed her legs and tugged her towards him. She made a small noise of surprise, Mercury trailed his fingers up her legs. He teased at the hem of her stockings and pulled them down to her knees, he paused and brushed at the underside of her thighs gently; her legs were smooth and soft to his touch. Ruby flushed and looked to the side

"…I may have…shaved before coming over. So sorry if I missed a spot?" she murmured awkwardly. Mercury chuckled lowly and pulled her stockings off the rest of the way and motioned she sit up. He pulled her dress off and smiled; Ruby smiled warily and leaned forward. Her hands resting over his belt buckle, she looked up questioning him with her eyes;

"Can I?" she murmured softly, her tone was shaky yet she looked certain. Mercury gave a slight nod and locked his legs to prevent his hips from shaking too much, there was no point in hiding the truth from Ruby. She already knew he was turned on given their previous interaction. The belt latch was undone and he grinned as she fumbled with the pants button and zipper, giving a frustrated grunt before sliding his jeans down his thighs. Her thumbnails grazed the skin gently until she came to the metal junction, there was a long pause. He moved to finish for her and she shook her head,

"It's ok!...I just-…your legs are sexy." She muttered, her face turning a soft shade of red. He choked a bit and blinked the surprise off his face

"You think…this?" he gestured to the junction of flesh and metal that made up his thighs,

"Is sexy!?" his tone was more strained than surprise. Ruby's flush vanished and she pulled back, anxious that she had overstepped some unspoken boundary; she opened her mouth to speak and nothing came out.

"…How- Why do you-" he began to protest, pulling at his pants, as if he couldn't decide if he was done with the evening or would continue.

"They suite you! I know the circumstances surrounding them are less than favorable but when I look at you like this, you look…powerful. You look…sexy." Ruby cut in and looked up to meet his eyes, to say he was a bit shocked was an understatement.

"…" an awkward silence passed over them, Mercury's arousal had died down but Ruby nor he made no motion to redress or call the night a wash. He sighed finally and shucked his pants down and kicked them away, leaving his boxer-briefs on. He crawled on to the bed and hummed before pressing his knee to Ruby's calf, a soft keen and she squirmed, rolling her hips to meet him. He smirked as a pleasurable heat began to return to his gut and he kissed her shoulder gently before jamming his knee past her calf to drag on her thigh, she gasped and her hands wrapped around his back as he moved upwards on her body, causing her to fall back on the bed with a soft thump. His knee pressed against her clothed vagina and he grinned as she moaned softly, her back arching off the bed.

"You really do like these, don't you?" he teased before pulling back and returning with the sex jelly, Ruby watched curiously as he popped the cap and removed the tab holding the content of the tube in. He frowned as he rubbed a small lump between his thumb and index finger, it was an icy cool feeling until a warm sting began. Ruby sat up, a worried look on her face

"Is it bad?" she asked taking the tube from him, he shook his head.

"No, but to be safe we should test it not directly on my junk or your stuff until we try it on another sensitive place." A wide grin formed and he leaned in showing teeth

"Your nipples, for example." He cooed huskily, he jerked back as a slimy substance was smeared over his left nipple and pectoral region. He looked down and then at Ruby, who smirked playfully as him, the remaining jelly was in her palm from what she had used to attack him with. He glared a bit and shivered as the coolness set in, Ruby blinked

"Wait, your nipples can get hard too?" she asked poking the hardened nub. His glared deepened and he sat back on his calves looking at her as if she had just figured out the universe's mystery.

"Yeah, they do." He replied bluntly before the gel began to sting; he swallowed back a grunt as the stinging sensation quickly became a dull roar of heat. Ruby leaned forward, her eyes wide with something he couldn't pinpoint.

"Mercury, do you want me to help you take off your boxe-" Ruby squealed as he leapt forward and stole the jelly from her and squirted a copious amount on her chest. He tossed it to the side and began kneading her breasts like it was his sole purpose. His hips ground down on her with each squeeze and pinch, he sneered a bit as she practically yelped when the stinging set in. She cried out again, long and loud, as the stinging became the pleasant burn. In the dim lighting he could see her pale skin tinged pink from the stinging of the jelly, he ground down again and moaned as he let his groin linger against her. That familiar soaking, wetness felt warm as it seeped into their underwear. He was eager to see how she'd react to the jelly being rubbed into her folds, gently, of course. Ruby lurched up and kissed him, teeth clacking against his as she began grinding back, her legs pressing into his every chance she got. She really did like how they felt…Mercury felt a swell of pride, he assumed it was pride, at the thought of Ruby liking the part of him many despised. He even hated that part of him, but hearing Ruby, call the mechanical legs sexy…like they were piercing or a tattoo rather than an ugly looking scar or injury.

He groaned breaking the kiss, his underwear felt too tight and sticky with his own fluids beginning to seep out in excitement. He gave one last squeeze and sat up, his slick finger yanking her panties down to her knees and practically jumped off the bed in a hurry to get them fully off of her. He growled a bit as he ground down on her folds, pressing the metal plate of his leg into her core.

She screamed. He hadn't expected that it had startled him into pulling away entirely, eyes wide at the noise that had just erupted from her throat. Ruby breathed heavily and covering her face with her arms

"Sorry…I just…I wasn't expecting, that." She breathed. Mercury crawled overtop her and hummed

"…Did it feel good, though? From what my sensors…picked up, you're very wet." He stated cheekily. She swatted him with her hand, followed by a breathy sigh.

"How about save metal for next time? My boobs are still burning and I don't know if I can handle all that." She whined softly, Mercury grinned and sighed,

"Alright, alright. Next time…this time though…" he trailed off with a sly grin. He grabbed the tube of jelly and leaned back, squeezing a small amount onto his fingers. He looked down at her and smirked, she frowned in confusion

"What are you-" she began. Mercury moved and slid his hand between her thighs, his fingers sliding into the folds gently. He found her clitoris and gave it a light pinch with gelled fingers, the jelly still felt cool. He rubbed it gently into her folds and teased at her opening. He dipped one finger in and watched as her mouth formed a perfect, wide 'o'. Ruby's hips rolled onto his hand, the finger slipping in deeper and he slowly added a second, stretching her gently. Just like before. Gentle, but just a little bit rough this time, too keep things interesting. But still slow, he didn't want to go fast, he liked the pace he kept with Ruby. The jelly began to heat up, he looked back to her face and grinned. Ruby moaned low and throaty; Mercury pulled his hand away and captured her lips swiftly. He rolled his hips into hers as she moaned again, from the lingering jelly on his fingers her assumed the stinging warmth had begun to settle into her slickened heat. He groaned and pulled away as he strained against his underwear, Ruby gasped and her hand flailed around on the bed, she found the tube and grunted pushing up on his chest.

"It's only fair!" she protested, her other hand tugged on his boxers roughly, she pulled them past the v of his groin. Ruby smiled sheepily when he sighed in relief and his penis sprung upward, Mercury frowned and started to move away from her. Ruby smeared a large amount of the jelly onto the shaft and head, Mercury's breath hitched. The jelly was cool for now, it was going to start stinging any moment now, Ruby grinned and gave the shaft a gentle squeeze and a sharp tug. She hadn't meant too, Mercury noted her loss of balance on the bed, he yelped a bit and steadied her wrist, grabbing it gently.

"I-if you are going to jerk me off. I will show you how." He ordered a strain in his voice; Ruby flushed, her skin turning bright red all the way down to her shoulders.

"M-maybe next time!? I-I don't want to spoil anything!" she squeaked out; Mercury sneered a bit and leaned down to kiss at her next.

"If I show you how then it won't spoil anything will it?" he teased rubbing a soothing circle into her wrist with his thumb. He hissed a bit as the stinging set in, he scrunched up his face in displeasure for a moment before he moved his free hand and began to stroke the shaft slowly, if anything, it was to work the jelly through and at least make it more pleasurable than what it felt like now. Ruby swallowed thickly and watched, she trembled a bit and made a small coughing noise, he paused and looked at her through half-lidded eyes.

"Show me how, and then we-…ah- then shove it in!" she sputtered, he sighed and began to stroke his shaft again, a lecherous smirk on his face. He leaned in and groaned softly into her ear

"Still need to work on the dirty talk." He nipped at her neck and guided her hand to the base of his penis.

"Ok, You will grab it here, but not with a hard grip, just a firm grip." He ordered; Ruby nodded and did as she was told. He grunted, holding back a moan as the jelly became a roaring warmth and Ruby's hand applied a firm pressure.

"Now just-…I dunno, move your hand up and down." He mumbled, looking away. He had to admit it was partly embarrassing he was teaching her how to give a proper hand job. Ruby began to do just that, a slow and steady pace as she moved her hand up and down the shaft, the jelly giving plenty of frictionless momentum in her pace. She glanced up and grinned as Mercury began to make subtle lip movement and jerks of his brow, his hips were also bad at lying how good it felt for him. He finally keened, a soft mewling noise that caught Ruby off guard, how could he sound like that? This was Mercury, hearing him make such a soft, high pitched moan was surprising. He flushed, looking down at her as she stopped

"What!? You sound like that all the time!" he snapped smacking her hand away and glaring down at her, though his red face made it hard for her not to start giggling. Mercury growled a bit as she fell back onto the bed snickering at him, he pulled up off the bed and shuffled his boxers down and kicked them off. He glared at her as he tore open the condom wrapped and rolled it on carefully before towering over her. Her giggling died down and she seemed to become breathless, anticipation settling into the air, he worried his lip before pressing into her folds.

"Do I need to prep you again, or do you think what I did was enough?" he asked, a quiver in his voice; she shook her head and wrapped her arms around him. Small hands splayed out on his back, he nodded and pulled back and positioned the head at her entrance before thrusting in all in one swift motion. Ruby yelped, he froze, he had already broken her hymen. She shouldn't be in any pain, there might be slight discomfort but no real feeling of pain. Mercury swallowed thickly, hymens didn't repair themselves right!? Did her aura actually repair her V-card!? Mercury pulled back and looked down at her worriedly.

"I didn't hurt you right?" he asked looking at the juncture of their hips, she shook her head and moaned softly as she exhaled.

"I was just getting used to the feeling of you, again." She breathed, a warm smile on her face. He blinked, his penis twitched inside her, she had said something kinda sexy actually.

"O-oh." He looked to the side and then back to her,

"Should I-" he began and she cut him off with a swift roll of her hips.

"Mercury, Move." She ordered, he smirked and pulled out to the tip before thrusting back in, she cried out softly and he began to set a steady rhythm. Ruby dug her nails in gently, not enough to cut or scratch but enough for him to feel 10 little bites on his back as he rolled his hips into her continuously. The coiling heat that had been building up most of the night was beginning to become unbearable, several times had they stopped in their awkwardness or embarrassment, several times the heat had died down. Now it seemed everything was coming together, the dull throbbing the sex jelly provided still lingered on their skin, that swell of brief pride Mercury had received at Ruby's remark about his legs. Touching, kissing, feeling her beneath him was incredible. He grunted and pulled her legs up again, setting them to rest on his legs, he grinned wickedly at her as she wailed. Saving metal for another time was not on his agenda.

Ruby was trying to keep time with him, shoving back on his penis the best she could, but he could see and feel she was close, her insides felt all coiled up. Her fingers had dug in a little more, she might even leave faint marks. Mercury felt he was getting close too, each thrust into her tightening womanhood was about to send him over, he was surprised she was still lasting too. He moved, thrusting in again, this time, he bit down on her nipple. A little harder than he had wanted, but it did the job of sending her into her orgasm. Mercury groaned, releasing the little nub as she tightened all around him, he could feel her fluids pouring out ever so slightly. He came finally, managing to pull out as she relaxed, letting the euphoria set it. He rolled onto his back with a huff and closed his eyes,

"That was…" he trailed off, Ruby sighed happily.

"Great." She finished for him, her hand teasing his forearm, fingers soothingly rubbing against his skin. Mercury made a noise of agreement and sat up briefly to remove the condom before things began cooling inside the rubber. Ruby averted her eyes and he quirked an eyebrow and frowned

"You've already seen me naked…why the sudden innocence?" he asked tying it off and disposing of it into the waste bin. He tugged on his boxers and she sighed

"I've never seen…that kind of stuff. It's just…weird looking, inside the condom." She murmured. Mercury sneered a bit and offered her, her panties. She pulled them on and shivered a bit, she'd really made a mess on them. He picked up his shirt and laid it on top of her before flopping back on to the bed with a grunt, rolling to his side to look at her. He left a large gap between them, they weren't a couple. They didn't cuddle, they didn't kiss each other better if things got rough. He could see her disappointment at the gap but it weakened when she pulled his shirt on and was able to smell not just the musk of their intercourse; but also his cologne that lingered on the shirt. Mercury hummed a bit, breaking the silence between them.

"You liked that, right?" he asked softly, she nodded and smiled at him;

"Want to get a pizza?"


	3. Really bad phone sex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I legit, am just dumping all the current chapters of this sucker here. Cause why not? Also this chapter is shorter than the previous two because the next one you shall receive may reach up to 10000 words cause they're probably gonna have 2-3 rounds of that hanky panky.
> 
> Also Emerald is here!

Mercury groaned, turning onto his side, he was in a restless mood. Well, more of a restless everything. It had been nearly 3 months since he had last been able to see Ruby, her warm smile, and soft skin... Mercury growled lowly, as a warm heat pooled in his lower gut. He hadn't expected to have been sent all over and Ruby to not be where he was, he was almost wishing they had arranged monthly meetings rather than whenever they saw each other. He couldn't even get up the nerve to ask Emerald to sate any needs he had; mainly because she was pissed at him. He hummed a bit, shoving a pillow into his face as the heat continued to build, he wasn't one to jerk off but…this was going to keep him up all night.

Ruby. Ruby was all he had on the brain, her voice, her scent, and her eyes. Mercury groaned angrily into the pillow; Ruby's breasts, her hips, her thighs, everything. He sighed heavily before propping himself up and kicking back the covers to glare down at his growing erection, this was becoming a problem. Ruby seemed to inhabit every corner of his wandering thoughts, and that was strange, while also concerning. He may have liked Emerald, but she never inhabited his thoughts like this, then again she was rather demanding in his actions. Ruby…Ruby let him do whatever and she wouldn't think twice about it, perhaps it was because even though they had only slept together twice, he felt more loyal to her sex wise than he had Emerald. Mercury turned his glare to his legs, the metal shining in the light that was spilling through the curtains, red and ominous like always. Mercury chewed his lip as he teased at the hem of his pajama shorts, weighing the pros and cons yanking one out.

Pros, he'd feel amazing afterward; cons, Ruby would be the reason he'd release. He groaned as his thumb teased at the hem more dipping into the V like Ruby liked to do, he flushed as her face came to mind. He huffed and shoved the shorts down, dragging his briefs with them. The image of Ruby was perfect, sitting between his knees, wearing his shirt. Mercury moaned quietly as he wrapped his hand around the base of the shaft; giving it a firm squeeze. Ruby's image crawled forward, her rosy cheeks and shy smile, his breath hitched, she was on her hands and knees. The shirt slide down the small of her back, it pooled under her breasts, revealing her slender hips leading to her groin. The neatly trimmed curls of red, her folds, he grunted leaning back against the bed railing. She was wet. He gave himself a long stroke, holding back a moan, he was snapped from his actions and the image of Ruby vanished much to his displeasure. His scroll was buzzing lightly with a message notification, Mercury frowned, an irritated grunt emitted from his chest as he pulled his scroll from its resting place.

He blinked in surprise, Ruby? It was a message from Ruby? He opened it and coughed, eyes going wide. Attached was an image of Ruby, flushing brightly, all the way to her bare breasts, nipples an even darker shade of pink. She was in a bathroom, he could see a shower curtain and a toilet in the background.

'I miss you' was the only caption. Mercury smirked; so they were in the same boat. Mercury leaned back and thought carefully before sending a blunt reply.

'I've got a boner because of you.' He paused and deleted the message, that wasn't exactly the best way to start things off.

'I do too.' He attached a selfie, just him and his flushed face, a troubled expression. He waited for a reply and it was almost instant, they were…sexting. Mercury groaned, Ruby had sent a picture of the rest of herself, unclothed, sitting in the tub now. He pulled off his shirt and tried taking a picture of his upper torso, his free hand returning to his penis and giving it another stroke. Ruby replied with a picture of her squeezing one of her breasts, biting her lip in pleasure. Mercury grinned

'Dust, you're kinky all of a sudden' he teased, neglecting to add an image on purpose. It was a few moments before she replied, no image,

'Sorry.' He frowned.

'No, don't be. I like this.' He replied, attaching a picture of a rugged smile selfie; Ruby responded, a baggy shirt on and a disgruntled glare.

'Shouldn't have spoiled it.' Mercury tossed his head back glaring at his scroll

'You're kidding!?' he sent hurriedly. Another moment of nothing before he received a message, this time a sound clip, he flushed and the heat began to bubble. Soft, delicate moans with a bit of an echo,

"I- today was not good. I thought I saw you in a crowd and-" a low gasp and a soft keen.

"-got excited." She mumbled into the speaker quietly. Mercury lurched up a bit and continued his own ministrations, looking for the sound message attachment. Two could play this stupid game.

"You have no idea-" he grunted, allowing a low moan to escape himself as he teased the head,

"-how badly you have been driving me crazy. 3 months. I have been-" another grunt.

"-restless to see you." He huffed as the recorder cut off and sent it; he continued to stroke himself, the pace picking up, might as well finish digging his own grave. If Cinder ever thinks to check his messages she's going to hear a botched porno and read some pretty damning evidence towards his loyalties. He grinned, rolling his hips a bit as another sound clip message arrived; she sounded so needy.

"I wish it was you doing this to me." She breathed into the speaker, her tone almost a whine. Mercury growled, fuck messages. He dialed her, she picked up on the second ring. He was greeted by a very breathy whine,

"It's just me, in a hotel bathroom. Team got separate rooms for privacy reasons." She explained quickly. Mercury rested back on the railing, picking up the pace of his strokes

"Moan louder, if your all alone I want to hear you better." He ordered, relishing in the sound of her voice,

"Mercury." She moaned into the speaker, he bit his lip and did his best to not rut his hips upwards, as if she were really there.

"You sound, so needy…" he teased grazing his thumb over the head and pressing down, Ruby made a hum of approval at his gasping noise as the pleasure spiked.

"Seems we had the same idea…" she breathed, her voice hitching; Mercury grunted in response, he felt like he was going to cum already, but both knew they could last much longer.

"No shit." He hissed before swallowing back a grunt and rolling his hips in time with his strokes, if he got caught like this, he doubted it would be brought to Salem. Let alone Cinder, he was, as the rest of Salem's posse had put it delicately upon seeing him, 'A bit young to be a man'. Mercury grinned as Ruby continued to moan breathlessly into her scroll's speaker, young men such as himself had to take care or needs after all. It wasn't like sexual tension goes away on its own.

"Tell me-" he groaned and arched his back at a particularly pleasuring stroke

"What you're doing to yourself!" he cried out a bit squeezing his shaft and trailing down to the base with the same amount of pressure. Ruby made a few noises of delight before she moaned into the speaker

"I'm-" another moan "-attempting to do what you did to me!" she mewled. Mercury grinned, the image of her squirming at the mercy of her fingers was quite alluring, he grunted at a rather pleasing twitch of his pulse on the shaft of his penis.

"So your finger fucking yourself?" he cooed happily, a smirk spreading across his face at her sputtering her tone.

"Wha-wha-What!? Finger what!?" she cried, Mercury chuckled and continued stroking himself smugly as her protests.

"Finger. Fuck." He enunciated each word with a husky tone and a firm squeeze. His hips bucked forward and he inhaled sharply as her end went alarmingly quiet. His stroking slowed to a still pleasing pace, though a worried frown adorned his face.

"Ruby…?" he asked, hoping he hadn't inadvertently upset her with his brash language; a loud keen erupted from his scroll, partly startling him.

"Uhhh…?" his brow furrowed and Ruby gasped

"I touched something- weird. It felt…Really, Really. Good." she breathed like she was being starved of oxygen. Mercury grinned and resumed a faster pace,

"Your G-spot, it's like the holy grail of sex." He grunted arching his back again, the image of Ruby's face flushed and gasping as she stumbled upon the cluster of sensitized nerves causing her to cry out like that. Ruby made a humming noise and continued her steady gasping,

"Did you cum?" he rasped, listening to her breathing.

"…yes…is it…always…this wet?" she murmured, Mercury moaned lowly

"God, I'd think you were practicing dirty talk if it weren't for that innocent tone" he teased.

"Have you…y'know…released?" she asked, he grinned and pictured her face all red. Her eyes looking to the side as if to avoid looking at him, though he wasn't there.

"Not exactly." He gasping picking up his pace, he had gotten this far; stopping would just lead to the worst case of blue balls he'd probably ever experience. Given that he was close, he expected his release would be soon. Ruby hummed into the phone, listening to his grunts

"You sound close." She mumbled; Mercury bit his lip

"Keep talking babe." He huffed, adding a bit of force to his strokes, he would almost bet she could hear the sounds of him jerking it, skin slapping and all. The other end went silent again before she hummed lowly into the phone.

"Really now? You need to hear me talking to get it on?" she teased, Mercury smirked and groaned loudly into the phone, waiting for her answer. Ruby hummed again

"You sound, so needy." She stated, Mercury chuckled and smiled warily,

"Just say something sexy. Something that will send me over the edge. Please." He pleaded jerking his hips, Ruby remained silent for a moment before she breathed lowly into the speaker

"I bet you look hot, spread out begging for release," she mumbled, Mercury gasped. That was good. A little vanilla and innocent but, coming from Ruby it was pretty good. Mercury jerked his shaft a little hard and pressed on the head, inhaling sharply; Ruby began making soft whimpers again. Mercury screwed his eyes shut and grinned, arching his back.

"Are you touching yourself again?" he wheezed, unable to catch his breath with the heat coiling to a head in his lower gut.

"Maybe." She gasped, he could hear skin rubbing on porcelain, she was squirming again;

"God, Ruby- you-" he breath hitched and he jerked up curling in on himself as his strokes picked up the pace. A loud squeak of porcelain as her breathing picked up again,

"I gotta ask-" he growled, squeezing the shaft again before stroking vigorously, picking up his pace.

"-why the bathtub?" he waited for her answer, between moans she managed,

"I didn't want to get the bed wet!" she cried, her breath catching and long, sultry moan followed. Not quite what he had hoped to release too, but it sent him over with a low hum of approval, he slouched back onto his pillow and grimaced at the sticky feeling coating his fingers. Definitely not going to go without a condom next time, or at least a tissue.

"Mercury…" Ruby hummed, the sound of skin sliding on smooth porcelain followed, she must have been getting out of the tub, or writhing around in it. Mercury bit back a groan at the image of her, nude, rolling around in a bathtub digging into her folds just because she hadn't wanted to get some bed covers wet. He smirked at that lingering detail, 'didn't want to get the bed wet', it was oddly innocent; coming from Ruby that is.

"Hmm…?" he hummed, a low rumble in his chest, her voice drawing his attention, what little he could muster. Having all that restless tension removed with the equivalent of really bad phone sex made it a little hard to think clearly.

"I do want to see you soon…I was lucky my team was willing to separate rooms today…so I could…do this." She mumbled into the speaker softly. Mercury wiped his hand on his pajama shorts and made a face as he pulled his clothes into order, the feeling of his release cooling on his skin and clothes was not a pleasant one.

"I'd like to see you too…but it's not a good time…" he huffed looking up to the ceiling, her tone was a bit sad. The image of her, lying next to him, slightly pouting in his shirt. He closed his eyes and relaxed a bit as she spoke

"I know, but this was nice…I just hope no one heard you." She teased breathlessly.

"Don't worry about me, you worry about you, you had an echo." He sneered with a chuckle, he heard a rustling of fabric and soft thump.

"Yeah…so…I guess this is it?" she asked quietly. Mercury swallowed a bit and inhaled slowly

"Actually…I think we should schedule our next meeting soon…I cannot tell you how bad it's getting. You are literally everywhere in my head." He grumbled lowly, Ruby chuckled softly.

"Ooooh, in love with me now?" she teased, his eyes shot open and he glared at his scroll

"You wish." He gruffed, ignoring how his cheeks heated up slightly at her teasing.

"It's just casual sex." He repeated though he felt Ruby already knew the answer,

"I know, I know. I'm just saying…it's kinda sad we depend on each other to have proper orgasms." She murmured before a soft yawn over took her. Mercury blinked a bit at her statement, for one, she was talking so casually about orgasms, for two, and since when do they depend on each other for something like that? Mercury frowned and sighed, debating a shower, he was not looking forward to cleaning dried cum out of his pubes if he waited until morning but the effort to get out of bed wasn't exactly there either.

"I dunno if I'd say I depend on you for that Ruby, I took care myself just fine." He mumbled, Ruby snickered

"So you coming to the sound of my voice is not just what happened?" she mused, he flushed and sat up slamming his hand onto his mattress in protest. He grimaced as he felt his release shift around, the damp stickiness was not pleasant at all.

"I did not need you nagging me into a release!" he snapped, Ruby began giggling happily at his tone of embarrassment. Mercury growled a bit

"If anything I would say you were the one having trouble getting off! Oh, Mercury, I wish you were here! Touch me there! Oh!" He mimicked her voice, taking on a whiny tone and glaring at his scroll while he waited for a response. Ruby only sputtered out a laugh and continued giggling, Mercury growled and she sighed as her giggling subsided

"Mercury…you don't have to be embarrassed y'know. I know…Emerald doesn't exactly let you do as you please." Ruby mumbled, the shy tone returning. Mercury hummed and leaned back, resting on the pillows again

"It's whatever…but…let's meet soon. Pick a date or something." He grumbled, turning onto his side, shifting his legs trying to snag the covers and pull them up.

"Ok, I'll text it too you…like normal. Until then…is it ok to call you again? Like this I mean?" she murmured; Mercury worried his lip briefly before uttering a blunt

"Sure." And ending the call before she could ask more of him. He erased their messages and evidence of the call and set his scroll to the side and pulling up the covers to his chin and burrowing into them. He felt tired finally, apparently jerking off before bed really was helpful for falling asleep. He began to drift off when his scroll buzzed, Ruby had already picked the date. He sneered a bit 'eager much?' he thought as he set the date in his planner simply as: Maintenance. Then erased any more evidence of Ruby having contacted him in the first place. It had been set for nearly another 3 months away, but he felt he could wait. After all, both seemed to have enjoyed their poorly done variety of phone sex, maybe he could even get her dirty talking after a few more sessions. He yawned and stretched having resigned his fate to it being a shitty morning on the horizon, though he was glad he could finally get to sleep.

Morning came sooner than expected, knocking on his door woke him and he crawled out of bed, forgetting the state he was in. Emerald looked at him with raised brows

"Rough night?" she asked warily, Mercury frowned a bit, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"What are you talking about?" he grumbled, scratching his groin lightly before cringing. Right. Should have showered before bed, the feeling of dried cum was worse than wet.

"I heard you yanking one out last night, I am just across the hall you know?" she asked with a glare; Mercury's face fell.

"Oh…" he managed and she sighed heavily,

"So, if you're so sexually tormented…is there a reason you haven't come to me?" she asked leaning in the door frame, Mercury frowned looking to the side, catching a glance of himself in a mirror. He looked terrible, his hair was clumped and matted from what he hoped was just sweat and sleeping on it awkwardly. He looked tired to top it all off.

"I thought you were mad at me…" he gruffed, she sighed and shrugged

"I was but…now I'm just- I dunno. I hate to admit it but I think I know why you couldn't get it up a few months ago." She grumbled, Mercury swallowed thickly.

"Uhhh…?" he looked at her strangely,

"You want a relationship." Emerald mused. Mercury flushed and blinked

"…and I realize I haven't been the best person for that…but if you wanted we could try…the relationship thing?" she murmured looking up at him. Mercury coughed lightly, more out of disbelief and suddenly lacking the ability to form words, Emerald smirked and cocked her head.

"Did I just blow your mind?" she teased, he nodded a bit and ran a hand through his hair

"Literally…if you had asked me this a while ago…I would I have killed for an opportunity to be with you that way…" he murmured looking down to the floor and propping his arm on the wall. Emerald blinked and pulled away

"So now…you don't want that? You don't want to be a couple?" she asked, surprise etching her tone. Mercury sighed heavily

"Em…you realize I have been sleeping around right? I wasn't just yanking one out last night, I was having a sort of phone sex call…" Mercury didn't really think sleeping with Ruby meant sleeping around, that implied he had seen more than one woman, but this was the quickest way to get her to not ask too many questions. Emerald blinked in surprise again, her mouth opened and he assumed she was going to speak, she closed it quickly and her brows knit into a deep frown.

"I really…don't know what to say?" she questioned, her voice wavering; Mercury stepped forward and moved to consul her but stopped.

"I am…sorry, about this." He paused and looked at her with an awkward smile

"I just don't think I want a relationship anymore…" he trailed off and stepped back into his room and waved at her awkwardly before closing the door as she nodded, trying to keep her face from looking hurt. Mercury flushed as he leaned against the wall, he had just refused Emerald…? He clenched his fists 'What the hell am I doing!?' he thought angrily. He had wanted to call Emerald his girl for the longest time, and now, he had just blatantly refused her! And for what…? His thoughts wandered to the color red, the small girl in his shirt smiling shyly at him from her side of some hotel bed, and how he loved the feel of her against him. Mercury gritted his teeth and lurked forward

"It's casual sex." He reaffirmed to the empty room, that's all they had between them was casual sex from time to time to keep the other quiet about their whereabouts. He had told Ruby that and he doubted he inhabited every waking moment of her thoughts. Not like how he was becoming obsessed with her…he fell onto his bed face first and groaned. People were looking for her, he wouldn't even tell her that...he didn't care about her like a man should…

He reached for his scroll and looked at the planner date, he felt something squirming in his chest, he grimaced and hid his face in his covers again. The day he'd see her writhing beneath him could not get there fast enough…if anything just to reaffirm they were nothing but fuck buddies.


	4. Sex, Oral, and maybe Love.

The benefit to planning out the date was that Mercury knew when he would see Ruby again, the new issue was, why had time seemed to slow to a painstaking crawl? There was just no reason for it! It had been irritating enough waiting for the circumstance he'd run into her, but now that things were planned out it was infuriating waiting for the day to come. Barely a week had passed since their little phone call and he was already sick of waiting. Though he made sure to vent the frustration through work rather than lip off to his superiors. Emerald was talking to him, more casually, the bad air seemed to have cleared and he made sure to not get snippy with her as to ruin the comfortable silences and conversations they had in between errands and meals. If it weren't for the constant red glow of the sky and the churning and gurgling of black slug that Grimm regularly crawled out of, he felt it wouldn't have been so bad living here.

After the first week, however, time picked up its pace again. Less sluggish and more along the lines of average, though Mondays still took forever and felt never-ending. Mercury did as he was told and made sure to not step out of line, he had to ask for the maintenance day, he couldn't just take a ship for no reason. He wouldn't be surprised if he were accused of being a traitor doing it that way. The issue with that is that he had never asked for a maintenance day before, he hadn't really needed one while undercover. Having been confined a lot, he used the spare time to clean his parts and put them in working order. He did need maintenance though, and he had even scheduled an appointment at a mechanic shop, a rather good one. The atmosphere in, where ever the hell they were, was bad on the metal.

Black soot and grime were getting into various places and as busy as he had been lately…the buildup was not good for the internal parts of his prosthetics. Emerald had noted a skip in his step on several occasions while he was walking, his only explanation he could give her is that parts were sliding or something was broken. Even she was telling him to get maintenance done. A kind gesture, given how long they've been around each other.

"Mercury." Emerald grunted nudging him with her elbow in irritation, he stopped leaning back in the chair and carefully returned it on all fours. He glared a bit and Emerald widened her eyes and looked to the door then back at Mercury, he glanced over as Salem entered, quiet and ethereal. She was the picture of silence and prowess, she never slouched, she always stood erect or sat with good posture. Mercury sat up more, doing his best to be respectful in the presence of Salem. She smiled at Cinder and took her seat at the head of the table, Terian was missing along with one other man from Salem's little posse.

"I know it's a bit strange for me to call everyone remaining together on such short notice. I just wanted to share that Tyrian has managed to track down the little girl that harmed Cinder so brutally. He has her trail and is currently following a lead, I have no doubts she will be in our grasp soon." She spoke warmly, a sultry lowness in her voice as she glanced at the rest of the table, nodding in approval with leers. Cinder leaned forward and looked at Emerald who listened intently as she whispered in her ear, her voice was taking its time coming back. Emerald looked at Salem who nodded

"Speak." She ordered gently, or as gentle as her voice could sound.

"Cinder wants to know what is going to be done with her once she is brought here." Emerald asked softly, avoiding eye contact with the grim woman at the head of the table. Salem grinned wickedly and looked to Cinder,

"Trust me, dear, you'll have your revenge soon enough." She stated before standing, Mercury hesitated and raised his hand just enough for Salem to see. All eyes were on him now, Salem's steady gaze sent a chill down his spine, he inhaled slowly.

"I would like to request a day for me to travel, and have proper maintenance performed on my prosthetics. There is a buildup from the surroundings here and I don't have the proper chemicals to clean them. They're starting to act up and I don't want something to occur because of a fault in my machinery." He stated clearly, holding eye contact with her as long as he dared before looking to the rest of the table. A loud scoff, he resisted glaring at the man across from him and Salem hummed.

"Can Cinder or Emerald vouch for you? I trust that you need it but I am wary as to why this is now just being brought up." She mused studying him carefully. Mercury nodded a bit

"We've just been extremely busy, as you know I have been traveling around and there hasn't been a good moment for me to stop in and get it done properly. It will take several hours possibly…hence why I need the day." Mercury folded his hands in his lap, trying to keep the straight-laced posture and polite tone. Salem looked at Cinder who nodded a bit before motioning to Emerald to come close so she could speak, Emerald pulled back with an awkward smile.

"Cinder is vouching for both of us…she is adding onto Mercury's request to also make it a day off for me…if that's alright ma'am?" she asked looking up to Salem who hummed and nodded.

"That's fine, you two have been doing good work, I don't see why we can't reward you." She cooed looking to the others at the table, looking more irked than before.

"Are there any objections?" she asked, moving close to the others, a leering smile stretching across her face, Mercury felt the chills become worse as if the room was freezing over with every word as she spoke. They shook their heads, one even rolling their eyes;

"Can't expect them to not want to get out of here, it's not exactly safe outside in the first place." One murmured looking to Emerald and Mercury with a glare. Mercury stood as did Emerald and Cinder as Salem dismissed them all with a curt wave that was easier than he had thought it would turn out, he was half-prepared to trade work for the day off. Emerald poked him playfully

"Thanks for snagging me a day off." She snickered, helping Cinder out of the room. Her next treatment was in an hour or so, meaning Mercury would be relatively alone until it was meal time; Mercury shrugged and poked her back.

"No problem." He huffed as they parted ways, Cinder looking back at him briefly. He sent her a small smile, in thanks, she nodded her understanding and continued to walk with Emerald; Mercury returned to his room and rolled into his bed resting on his stomach. Grabbing his scroll from the charging port; he couldn't give any hints that Ruby's group was being followed, he wasn't going to become sentimental about it. If she got captured, that wasn't his problem. Ruby didn't seem to be the type to sell someone out anyway; Mercury scrolled through his app section, half tempted to play a game for a little while. He glanced at his messages quickly, making sure there were none from Ruby. He looked at the calendar and sighed, he had roughly a week now before he could Ruby underneath him, breathing out his name as he- Mercury groaned and dropped his head into the mattress. Now was not the time to let his other head do the talking, the pleasuring heat died down quickly as he opened a carnage game, slaughtering Grimm and people alike in a bloodthirsty rampage. Mercury played idly, trying to beat his high score, the mind-numbing haze setting in as he played. He rolled onto his back after dying for the third time, determined to beat his high score, he died again and huffed glaring at the ceiling in irritation.

The rest of his week was relatively a lot of the same routine, he would go where told, do as he was told, and complete his assignments to the best of his ability. He fell into bed over and over, thoroughly exhausted and eager for the day off to come. When it finally arrived he made sure to clean up properly, he showered, scrubbing his scalp until it burned slightly from the force of his nails. He shaved, making sure any stubble that had gone unchecked in the last week or two was gone. Lastly, he made sure to trim the happy trail leading to his groin, making sure he looked neat. He exhaled heavily, trying to think if there was anything else he needed to do, he pulled at his hair and frowned. It would be a little suspicious if he cut his hair just for a 'Maintenance' day. Though he didn't like his bangs in the way, not being able to see Ruby perfectly was not an enjoyable, though. He cut a little off, not noticeable to anyone not giving a shit, Emerald may make a comment but he could probably shut her off by mentioning a hooker offhandedly.

He dressed and sauntered out of his room with a cheeky smile as Emerald exited hers, looking just as pleased as him to be getting out of the castle for a whole 24 hours. Unfortunately, they were being escorted, meaning they would be dropped off and expected to be back at that point 24 hours from the time they were dropped off. Emerald was heading to the same place a Mercury. It was a rural area, it lacked any big shops but had just enough to keep Emerald occupied while Mercury was at the mechanics. They planned to get separate rooms to begin with, so he had no trouble meeting with Ruby. The ship landed finally, arriving around 11 in the morning, he gave a half shrug for a goodbye and proceeded to the mechanic's shop, they specialized in prosthetics with various levels of high tech. Emerald ditched him just a few moments after landing, she went one way and he went the other. Upon arriving at the mechanics and showing the state of his equipment, he was nearly beaten to death the owner wielding a newspaper.

Though the maintenance and cleaning shouldn't have taken long, it still lasted a majority of the day, Mercury detached the prosthetics from their ports and cleaned them while the mechanic tended to the more delicate parts and calves. When Mercury reconnected them and stood, he smirked a bit, admiring the returned shine to the metal. The shopkeeper scoffed

"Given the intricacy of your prosthetics I would wager they were custom made for you, extremely outdated, though, your ankle joints are stiffer and more stilted than the newer model. Is it possible I could interest you in an upgrade or is there some sentimental choice for keeping those?" he asked slowly totaling up the services completed for Mercury. Mercury shrugged in return

"I can't afford upgrades, plus I'm used to these, if I change them up, Dust knows how I'll manage." He grumbled pulling out his wallet and counting out plastic bills to pay up. It wasn't cheap, given that the mechanic had to give them a chemical bath just to loosen the soot and practically scrap it off. Though to keep things from damaging, he had to just give it another chemical bath and take them apart to clean each piece. Mercury was pleased with the outcome though, they looked brand new, almost giving him that freshly showered feeling of relaxation and pleasure at being clean. He straightened his jeans out and exited the shop, it was roughly around 5 in the afternoon. He walked briskly, the inn was just down the road, and he didn't have enough lien for a proper meal at its tavern if he wanted to front the money for the room.

"Should have seen that running more than normal given the amount of grime…" he grumbled entering the inn's lobby, the tavern part wasn't quite busy yet, the people who were there didn't look up. Mercury found the clerks desk rather easily and leaned on the counter

"I need a room, just one bed is fine." He instructed reaching for his wallet, the innkeeper nodded and grabbed him a key, room number 5. He paid and glared a bit at his dwindling funds, he had about 3 lien, and that could snag him a bag of chips if this village had vending machines. Sadly, they didn't. The room was on the second floor, the last one on the right, it was small, didn't have a tv, but homey. It gave off a warm, merry feeling; very inviting. Mercury sat on the bed and pulled his gloves off, no point in staying fully dressed when in a few short hours it was all going to be thrown to the side. He undid his greaves and removed almost all of the protective armor on his arms, leaving just his shirt and jacket on. It was a little colder in the room, though there was a tiny wood burning stove and some kindling next to it. He pulled on the comforter and blinked, it was a quilt, very plush and soft in his hands. He pulled it off the bed and folded it neatly in a rocking chair to the side. It looked old and handmade, no way they were soiling it with their actions.

The sheets with soft and felt almost like satin, he flopped into the bed and froze as the wood frame groaned under his weight, so it was that type of bed. If they weren't the only ones staying for the night, everyone would probably be aware of what was going on in room number 5. He huffed out a quiet hum, napping before something like this was becoming a fast go to plan. He drifted off, only to be woken up by the door creaking out, he snorted a bit and looked over to Ruby with blurred vision.

"Hey you…" he grumbled sitting up, he gasped as Ruby barreled into him, the door slamming shut and the bed frame squealing at the force behind her leaping. She looked up playfully, her hair a mess from tangling herself up with him,

"Hey…" she mumbled, a small smile spreading across her face. Mercury smirked and caressed her cheek

"How have you been?" he asked, pulling back. Ruby whined at the loss of contact and sighed

"Fine…just been missing you…and how good it feels to be with you…" she muttered with a smug grin. Mercury raised an eyebrow

"Really now? Haven't found any good fucking substitutes?" he teased, she made a face at him.

"I know this is 'casual' and all but the least you could do it be nicer about it…I don't like being called rude things." Ruby grumbled sitting up and combing her hair with her fingers as if to straighten it. Mercury frowned at the lack of her against him, brushing off the feeling of disappointment. He needed to keep things impersonal, he didn't feel for her, he just liked the sex. Mercury draped an arm around her and leaned into her, nibbling at her ear and neck,

"Are you really going to get all pissy because I'm just a rude meanie?" he teased, sucking gently at her throat. Ruby's breath hitched and she squirmed,

"It's not fair…" she whined softly, Mercury frowned and rested his chin on her shoulder, waiting for her to continue.

"I can't make things not romantic…I only do this with you…it feels special…and you act like it's just another round for you." Ruby hummed, looking to the door like she was ready to leave. Mercury rolled and pinned her beneath him with one swift movement, she looked up wide eyed as he glared down at her.

"You think it's any easier for me!?" he snapped, rutting his hips into hers, she whimpered, that pleasing tingle running up her spine.

"I can't stop thinking about you! You're everywhere! Dreams, colors, thoughts! If I even see a ruby, red color I just immediately think of you…writhing underneath me…" he breathed frowning deeply. Ruby blinked in surprise, she looked away and flushed

"…I met someone." She hummed, startling Mercury backward, the thought hadn't occurred she would meet someone, leave him. Mercury hummed and sat on his calves looking down at her with a smirk

"Is he nice?" Mercury mused, Ruby crawled up to meet him and resting her hands on his hips and hummed

"Yeah…but is it bad I don't…I dunno, don't see me and him doing what we do?" she mumbled. Mercury frowned and pulled her up, wrapping her legs around his thighs and holding the small of her back

"Why is that…? I mean if he's a nice guy then I don't see why it wouldn't hurt to fool around with him?" he asked nuzzling into her neck and nipping at her skin gently. Ruby gasped and moved so he had more access to her neck, a low whine built in her throat.

"Because…I like how it feels with you…with him, I feel he'd be too gentle." She mumbled sliding her fingers up his shirt slowly. Mercury paused and pulled back to look at her with a wide smirk

"Oho, too gentle? Does Ruby like it a little rough?" he mused raising his eyebrows. Ruby whined and rolled her hips with and irritated huff

"I like the pace we set! It's fast and a little rough!" she protested and slapped his chest, rolling his shirt up farther resting her hand just under his pectorals. Mercury hissed as she grazed a nipple lightly, he dumped her back onto the bed and trapped her beneath him.

"You're ready to go, aren't you…the question is, are we prepared?" he murmured, smirking lazily at her. Ruby nodded and tugged his shirt up, Mercury helped her removed it and she rubbed her hands down his chest. Pausing at the V again,

"You really like that spot…" he breathed, Ruby flushed and nodded her eyes focusing on the flex of his abs, and the little bit of hair that made up the trail leading to the groin. Mercury smirked as she dipped her fingers into the crevices and rubbing little circles. He'd never get tired of that. He cleared his throat and she looked up, like a child caught with her hands in the cookie jar.

"Ah! Y-yeah, we're prepared…condoms and whatnot…" she grumbled, puffing her cheeks. Mercury chuckled and pulled back

"You wanna strip? I don't think I have the patie-" she cut him off with buckle clicking, Mercury blinked as Ruby shed her layers in a matter of minutes, he blinked as she turned to face him. He'd never really paid attention to her panty patterns, though this one caught his eye. He crawled forward and pulled her into his lap, his fingers playing with the hem of the underwear. They were black with little bunnies, he nipped at her shoulders

"Pumpkin Pete…really?" he snickered, Ruby smacked him and huffed

"I thought they were just bunnies until Jaune pointed out they weren't!" she hissed, Mercury stilled and looked at her strangely. A dull spark of jealousy boiling in his gut.

"He may have seen my shopping bags…when I went to buy lube-lube." She finished quickly; Mercury relaxed and hummed

"For a second I thought he was the guy you had 'met'." He looked at her neck and she shrugged.

"No…the guy I met…lives on a farm…he's nice…like I said, but can we stop talking about him! Please?" she pleaded twisting around and straddling his hips. Mercury smirked and nodded, pressing her breasts flush against him,

"No more talk of others…just. Us." He cooed into her ear. Ruby shivered and he grinned as her nipples just hardened, he could feel them press just a bit into his chest.

"Let me get my pants off." He gruffed pulling her off his lap, her hands caught his belt and he looked at her with a soft frown.

"I betcha I can take them off before you can say my name." she grinned; Mercury raised his eyebrows skeptically. Mercury bit his lip and moved to say her name, she must have seen his mouth move to project her name, he felt a light brush against his groin and looked down, his pants were at his knees. The buckle undone.

"…well then…" he mumbled looking up at her with a sneer, Ruby grinned and slid into his lap smoothly,

"So…now what?" she murmured, resting her head on his chest, Mercury hummed thoughtfully

"What's your opinion on oral?" he mused falling back on the bed, spreading his legs out, Ruby gasped teasing her legs on the metal. Her toes bracing on one of the metal ridges of his calves

"Never heard of it…" she teased, a small smile adorning her face and she continued to shift her legs around the metal, she pushed the pants down more to expand the surface area. Mercury sighed

"I think I'll save oral for a special occasion, you're getting hot and bothered by some nuts and bolts." He cooed moving one leg to press against her clothed entrance and teasingly rub against her. The sensors that detected feeling and told what was left of his nerves in his leg what he should be feeling indicated wetness. Mercury inhaled slowly and moaned softly

"Dammit Ruby, how is it that you are so- so innocent! You're already wet…and that's so hot…" he groaned jerking his leg into her, she gasped, melting into him, pressing her hands to his chest to support herself. Mercury smirked and rubbed against her again, she keened and rolled her hips,

"Is it…w-weird that I like this…" she mumbled softly. Mercury frowned a bit, she looked troubled,

"Nah. There're weirder kinks out there Ruby…this is pretty mellow…just go with it, ok?" he hummed softly. Ruby looked relieved and gasped again as he grazed her bare flesh with the metal of his prosthetic again, he grinned and put his hands under her armpits

"How about you lie down? Let me take care of you?" he hummed. Ruby nodded and flopped to the side spreading her legs wide, Mercury chuckled and slid in close to her.

"You're not even the least bit shy about this?" he cooed, Ruby shook her head quickly,

"I'm ready to get things going if you are…" she breathed. He grinned and leaned down to kiss her neck and jaw

"Very eager I see…" he murmured before hooking her panties gently and pulling them down slowly, she gasped and arched her back, he smiled and used his free hand to focus on the pink peaks and gave them a light pinch. Ruby keened softly and helped nudge her panties to her knees, Mercury removing them finally so he could slide his knee forward. Carefully pressing against her folds, her whines became louder as he began kneading her vagina gently with cool, polished metal. He began to build a slow rhythm, kneading into her folds and spreading them with his hand to press against her clit. Ruby moaned and arched her back, jerking her hips down onto his knee. He grabbed her hips and stilled them

"Don't rub ok? Let me. Otherwise, you might catch on something and pinch yourself." He cooed, pressing a little harder into her, spreading the folds again. Ruby nodded, letting out a heavy breath; Mercury smirked and nipped at her breasts, resuming his rhythm, holding her hips in place. Ruby relished in the feeling, crying out softly as the cool, metallic feel assaulted her entrance gently. It felt like being bitten, only for a pleasing coolness to set in right after the bite, Ruby whimpered as he pressed in a little harder. He was careful to not slip, her fluids dripping onto the prosthetic lazily, reducing the friction that was barely there, to begin with. He groaned when her face scrunched into a pleasing gasp or moan, the little 'o' shape holding his attention every time. The pace was much slower than normal, only for precaution, he didn't want to hurt her by catching her in a joint or accidentally pinching her clitoris.

Mercury nipped at her throat again and rutted her gently with his leg again, she jerked against his grip and cried out as he brushed her clitoris a bit roughly. He pulled away and moaned lowly, having barely had any ministrations himself, his erection was painfully straining against his boxers.

"I think I've had my fill of hearing you moan in my ear…" he pulled his leg back and slid his hand into her folds, rubbing his thumb into her clit gently. Ruby bucked her hips, flailing her hands for the condom box in one of her satchels. Mercury hummed and crawled over her, grinding down into her groin, feeling her fluids soak into his underwear pleasantly.

He pulled one of the condoms from the strip and blinked

"You got really nice lube-lube? Don't you need to be saving your lien?" he grumbled looking down at her. Ruby shrugged a bit

"I only get these things with my money…in my savings…" she mumbled, Mercury raised his eyebrows and cocked his head.

"I feel bad for asking you to buy them now…only a little though as I think I reward you quite nicely." He cooed tearing open the condom wrapper, and Ruby leaned forward, tugging at the elastic of his underwear

"Why am I always the first to be nude?" she teased with a snickered before she brushed her fingers lightly over the head, pausing at the slit and pressing gently. Mercury gasped and tried to keep from jerking forward into her, Ruby snickered again. Her hands trailing lower, she flushed and looked away, she had never quite gone past the actual shaft. She held her breath as she tentatively cupped his balls looking up to his face, Mercury had closed his eyes, frowning in concentration.

"I'm trying to keep from jerking my hips…" he mumbled softly, Ruby giggled and squeezed gently, Mercury hissed and leaned into her shoulder, latching on with his teeth, intending to leave a mark. Ruby moaned, moving her hands from his balls and snagged the condom from his hand and rolled it on slowly. Humming softly and rocking her hips into his, Mercury broke away and groaned.

"Dust, I needed this." He breathed as she unclipped the cap to the lube, Ruby poured a generous amount into her hand and began to stroke him gently, she didn't mind her legs going numb from sitting on them, it was causing a dull thrumb, allowing pleasure to build slowly in her belly. She rolled her hips again and pulled away from stroking him. She pushed him back onto the bed, Mercury whined a bit and widened his eyes a bit when he noted her actions.

"Ruby…?" he mumbled and she grinned playfully,

"I may have looked up ways to switch things up" she trailed her hand along his hip. She pulled his penis up a bit and slipped over the head, gasping lightly as he entered her ever so slightly. Mercury groaned and arched his back against the mattress, he wouldn't have expected the tables to have turned so suddenly. He coughed a bit

"Ruby I didn't pre-" he began and she sank down, taking him all in at once. Mercury cried out, strangling it halfway through; Ruby hissed and pressed her hands to his chest. She looked quite displeased,

"…We should have prepped you…" Mercury groaned, feeling slightly guilty she felt amazing on top of him, he grabbed her hips to steady her. She nodded a bit

"I was impatient…" she mumbled, he nodded and lifted her a bit

"We both are…now are you okay if you move…? It should ease up the pain…ok?" he murmured softly. Ruby nodded and moved, lifting slightly, she inhaled sharply.

"That hurts still!" she protested, Mercury let out a light chuckle

"Slower then…?" he breathed and she began to sink down. Ruby nodded and he matched her pace, being gentler with her than he normally would, her impatience had caused more discomfort on her part than his. It was only a few minutes more before she picked up her pace steadily. Mercury gasped a bit at a particularly fast thrust of her hips, rolling down and then up, her breath hitching. Mercury waiting until the next thrust to meet her halfway, Ruby keened and rolled her hips side to side to accommodate to the feeling, he was inside her. Far deeper than he had managed before, he smirked and they set a slightly faster pace, something less familiar, Ruby seemed pleased by the change up.

Mercury arched and propped onto his elbows to get a better leverage point, in doing so shifted the angle and Ruby squealed, arching and tilting her head back, it was half choked on but he still heard it.

"Th-at's the spot!" she cried and rolled her hips, her voice cracking. He grinned and lifted her off him, flopping her onto the bed, Ruby began to moan. He thrusted into her at a quickening pace, trying to catch his orgasm, Ruby gasped and clasped at his shoulders, her voice no more than a stutter as her orgasm crashed over her, again and again. Mercury had no intention of stopping until he hit his, the familiar feeling of coiling heat winding too tight. Mercury gasped, thrusting hard into her, his climax hitting with a pretty potent punch, the time away from Ruby, the lack of pleasure had built up over the months; Mercury flopped on top of her in heap. His vision had gone white, breathing heavily against her as she moaned softly in her afterglow.

"…We should go again…" she mumbled nipping at his ear; Mercury hummed and pulled back to look at her with a teasing smile.

"Maybe after a break…I think I'm still seeing spots babe…" he gruffed kissing her gently, she tensed momentarily. Looking at him with wide eyes,

"…babe?" she murmured, Mercury blinked. The haze cleared instantly, he had never called her that before. Ruby shifted a bit, he pulled out and sat up, a deep flush burning his cheeks. She didn't move, her eyes focused on the ceiling, her own red tints shading all the right parts of her. Mercury swallowed, why couldn't he keep his heart out of crap like this? Why couldn't he manage to sleep around and not feel attached or develop affections towards them? It was looking like that mess with Emerald all over again,

"I-…It just slipped out…I thought girls liked pet names…" he mumbled peeling the condom off idly. Ruby sat up and slipped from the bed, pulled up his shirt from the discarded pile and slipping it on. She crawled back into bed, humming softly as she rested her head on his shoulder, he froze,

"It's ok." She replied, her voice barely a whisper; he jerked forward and tossed the used rubber in the trash bin and looked for his boxers.

"Mercury." She spoke firmly. He made a noise in return, a low grunt,

"Mercury." She repeated this time a little pleading. He looked over too her and grimaced, looking to the window. His chest was pounding, that irritable squirm, seeing her. Flush, red lips, small little bites on her neck, in his shirt; knowing full well she didn't put her panties back on, all of her. Not just her body, her voice, her eyes; that warm trusting gaze. He barely knew her and yet at the same time, he knew all of her.

"It's just sex." He bit out, glaring at her, she raised her eyebrows, a gentle look of 'really?' Mercury groaned and ran a hand through his hair

"That's all I can handle it as! If it becomes anything more-! I'm sorry I gave you a pet name. It didn't mean anything…" he felt his throat tighten, he was no good at emotions. Not positive ones. He could be enraged, a real asshole to deal with, but he could never be loving. He knew better than to think himself capable of giving someone the best of himself, the part that didn't exist. Emerald was supposed to be the exception, he had been willing to give everything to her, the first woman he had truly met and viewed equally. Ruby was just a young, confused girl, looking to lose her V-Card in the worst way possible.

"I know…it's just- just sex." Ruby said, a soft waver in her voice, he couldn't with her. She sounded so hurt, disappointed like she had been hoping for something genuine. Ruby was the opposite of him, gentle and innocent. She threw herself in whole-heartedly like she had been expecting him to change. Mercury was a strong man, he didn't let things get to him, he couldn't afford too. He couldn't just turn everything around, that wasn't his nature. He managed to find his underwear and pulled them up quickly before flopping onto the edge of the bed, shoulders hunched.

"We're just. Fuck buddies." He growled out, Ruby hummed softly, he hoped it was her agreement.

"You don't believe that…" she mumbled and scooted forward, entering his peripheral with a gentle smile. He hesitated, only because she was right, when had she gotten smart about things like this? Where was the dorky little girl with the weapons fetish?

"In some ways, I don't…but, I know better than to trust what some feeling in my chest is telling me." He replied softly, looking at her fully. Ruby shrugged and leaned on him with that same smile, all warm and happy.

"I know that too, but do you see me listening to my brain? Given I'm risking a lot to be here with you. I would say I'm not listening to my brain." She teased looking up at him, he scoffed and let a small smirk tug at his mouth.

"Maybe it's your vagina telling you what to do?" he snickered, Ruby slapped his arm with a gasp,

"You ass!" she hissed pulling away. Mercury chuckled darkly and allowed the space settle in between them, out of everything space was the most familiar. They were used to this. The space of just being…casual sex partners, nothing more. Though Mercury was surprised when she returned to his side, with a slight pout, closing the gap again and settling into the air of unfamiliarity. He inhaled slowly, letting the pounding in his chest calm, Dust why couldn't he keep his emotions in check. Though the warmth Ruby exuded was nice, the closeness was…grounding. Like she was holding him there, making sure he knew who was holding him, Mercury hummed and let his head come to rest on hers. Ruby smiled and nipped at his shoulder before pulling away, the closeness was gone in an instant, he tried to not dwell on the feeling of disappointment the bloomed in his chest. It was much more welcomed than the previous feeling of squishiness and weakness.

"Are you hungry? Food break before a second round?" she cooed, looking around for any indication of takeout menus. Mercury tried not to jump at the opportunity for something to eat, he was used to the feeling of hunger from his adolescence but in the recent years he hadn't gone hungry for long. Both he and Emerald were given good food and a warm bed, which was more than he had most days growing up; he flushed remembering he normally offered to pay. He had covered pizza last time…

"Ah…I actually am short on funds…you can get something for you if you're hungry?" he offered, it was one night. He could eat tomorrow, Ruby scoffed and raised her brows with a skeptical look, she had found a menu but it seemed the only foods available were a sandwich shop, which was closed by now; and iffy looking Vacuo/Mistral foods. They were open late, Ruby thumbed through the menu and huffed

"It's not pizza but…how do you feel about something spicy…I heard that's an aphrodisiac…right?" she squeaked. Mercury blinked and sighed before running his hand through his hair slowly

"I have never heard that…" he grumbled, Ruby puffed her cheeks

"Oh boo you! Nora said that it totally was! She read it in a magazine!" Ruby protested and Mercury eyed her with a drained expression,

"I will believe that when it happens." He gruffed and Ruby seemed to take it as a challenge; she pulled out her scroll and dialed

"I'm getting just a pint of curry, you get no say since you want to be a butt." She huffed and waited for someone to pick up on the other end. He smirked, and crawled towards her, his legs dangerously close to her bare skin, she looked at him curiously and he waited, cocking his head to the side. Someone picked up, a tired, nasally voice; Mercury pressed his leg against her thigh and grinned as she sucked in a breath

"Yeah! Hi, I just wanted to order something!" she squeaked glaring up at him, he stuck his tongue out playfully before pulling his leg back. Ruby watched him closely, he shrugged and waited until she was speaking again to place his leg between her thighs. Just brushing the inner, he didn't dare go farther, mainly out of fear she'd kill him. Ruby bit her lip quickly, to silence any noises she might make. The order was placed and she was promised 30 minutes, Ruby closed her scroll and looked up at him darkly, her face flushed.

"He heard me. Twice." She growled, Mercury smirked and leaned back

"What are you going to do abou-" he was cut off with a pillow and a hard tackle as Ruby pinned him to the mattress with a loud grunt.

"He heard me moaning into the stupid phone!" she hissed shoving her knees into his sides, he jerked up and grabbed her wrists, twisting her arms and pinning her to the headboard. He glared at her, more irritation than playfulness. Ruby's eyes went wide, fear sliding into her expression briefly before it softened, she wasn't actually frightened so much by Mercury doing anything. More she was afraid of his expression, one of cloudy rage and storms threatening to overtake them, he was not in the mood for rough housing. Ruby relaxed and he let go with a rueful

"…sorry." Before they fell into an uncomfortable silence. Mercury sat at the foot of the bed, back to her, while her eyes traced the paths of toned muscles and old wounds. Ruby knew better than to ask about where a majority of them came from. None of them looked like mauling Beowolf claws or Ursa swipes that had been unavoidable, the ones on his back looked like whipping marks. She had only seen a few in her lifetime, not from her own family but outsiders to her little world. Some neighbor kid from Patch had come from an abused home, his foster family had taken him in and given him a good home, but Ruby still saw the marks occasionally when he'd climb trees to get a ball or when he fell running from Yang in a game of tag. Angry little lines, how had she not felt them when she touched him? Or held onto him? Mercury was paying no mind to her, he seemed to be in his own little bubble, she couldn't see his face so she couldn't even try to glean what he was thinking about.

"…" she moved slowly, inch by inch, her fingers outstretched to graze a long strip of skin, a thick line raised from the rest of it, this one looked like a knife wound. It was still young too, not faded like the others on his back, her scroll ringing startled her and she pulled back.

"Food's here." She breathed pulling on her panties quickly and tugging his shirt down; Mercury grunted and she fished out her wallet before heading to the lobby. Mercury watched the door close before sighing and looking for his pants, checking his scroll for any messages. None. He hummed in approval before it pinged, Emerald sending him a message,

'Ruby's at the inn!'. Mercury blinked, oh. OH. He had forgotten Emerald was even in town!? Mercury hesitated and his thumbs hovered over the buttons carefully before typing a quick message

'Stay low! I'm still at the shop, there were some internal issues. I'm stuck. I'll get you in the morning.' He breathed waiting for a reply, she agreed to the plan. He stashed his scroll in his pants pocket again and Ruby entered with a brown paper bag and some plastic spoons; he forced a small grin and she huffed.

"Who said I was sharing? You were being a butt…a very big butt given the guy kept giving me funny looks!" she hissed setting the bag on the nightstand. Mercury hummed

"You are in a shirt and nothing else, unless he saw your panties, for all he know we were having sex when you called." He cooed sweetly. Ruby gaped and threw a spoon at him before rummaging in the sack for her food, Mercury ignored the smell of spiced whatever she had bought and looked at his legs. The curtains were drawn to keep out peepers but in the lamp, light he could see his warped reflection, that little lie he'd fed Emerald resting on his mind. Ruby made a noise and offered him an open container,

"Like I'm not going to share with you…" she grumbled plopping down beside him and taking a bite of whatever it was inside the container. He frowned

"What even is this…?" he poked at it with the spoon she had 'given' him. Ruby hummed, mouth full before chewing a bit

"It's curry, chicken, and peanuts…you don't have allergies right?" Mercury shook his head and popped a spoonful in his mouth. It was sweeter than he expected, but it didn't taste bad. They ate in silence, the dull burn of the spice finally building up, it wasn't painful; it was just a pressing reminder that Ruby wanted another round and the feeling in his gut was akin to arousal in some respects. He glared a bit as she tossed the container in the bin,

"So…maybe your friend was right when she said spicy food was an aphrodisiac, just maybe!" he affirmed with a grunt. Ruby smirked and placed her hand on her hips triumphantly,

"Told you so!" she snickered before his arms encircled her waist. He tugged her close and kissed her collar bones

"Still up for more?...or are you too tired?" he teased smirking into her neck, a soft moan and she was in his lap, pressing down on his groin.

"Stop asking!" she breathed moving to pull his shirt off, he pulled away from her neck to help her removed the shirt and the moment he saw her nipples her latched on, using his teeth to tug at one of the little nubs. She gasped and rolled her hips into his, her hands letting go of fabric and finding there was to his hair, holding him in place against her chests as he teased at the little pink dot. He suckled gently after a few good bites, leaving her nipple a shade darker than the other

"Oh no…they stopped matching…" he breathed against it and watched it harden into a little point. He grinned and moved to give the same treatment to the other, Ruby groaned as he tugged at it with his teeth, the spikes of pleasure going straight to her groin and pooling there. She bit her lip at another suck and he pulled back with a smirk,

"I can feel you soaking down there…It's almost like we didn't just have sex, not an hour ago…" he teased, going to lick at the nipple his attention was on. Ruby keened and ground his lap with a soft breath, she could feel him pressing against her and she managed a small chuckle before he cut her off with a tantalizing suck.

"Your one to talk- Ah!?" she arched her back and tightened his grip on his hair; he grinned and pulled away with a light pop. He looked up with a sneer,

"Ruby…you're dripping." He moved one hand from holding onto her hip and slid it into her clothed sex and gently pressed two fingers to it, her fluids were running down her legs slowly. She couldn't hide that, it was actually a little concerning to him.

"Not to kill the mood but, you were definitely not this wet the first session…?" he looked up again and Ruby shrugged, her face all scrunched up. He hummed and rubbed her spot gently, she hiccupped and hunched over resting her forehead against his. Mercury hefted her up and switched their positions again, setting her on the mattress and pulling off her panties in a fluid motion. He worried his lip, he had never really noticed the fluid consistency or the amount with Emerald, she knew her body well enough and he had never given aftercare. Mercury was on all fours, looking down at Ruby, who looked back at him, the red tint going all the way to her stomach. She had a bit of toned muscle there, more than last time, her abs were corded but still a bit soft in all the right places.

"…I'm going to chalk it up to stimulation. Like…you're very wet and that's pretty hot." Mercury stated, not pulling any punches with that one. She looked amazing if the term 'glistening sex' was going to be applied anywhere it would be Ruby at this very moment. He hesitated before dipping one hand into her folds and rubbing gently, he was willing to bet money it would taste gross, he'd never tasted a woman's essence before. He tried not to grimace, this was supposed to be sexy not make her feel bad, he licked the pad of his index finger and blinked.

"How the hell do you taste good!?" Ruby flushed, turning and even darker shade

"WHAT!? You taste my vagina and that's your first thought!? What were you expecting!?" she demanded slapping his cheeks with both hands like she was some cat batting at a mouse. He watched in amusement before propping up on his knees and catching her wrists

"I was expecting fish…it's what I read it would taste like…you…you taste like sugar." He mused, Ruby's voice died in her throat and he smirked sheepishly.

"So oral is a yes. I was worried I would have to pretend to like how you taste." He snickered before placing her hands at her sides and shimming back to a better position,

"Mercury!" she sat up and he paused, she looked flustered, she pulled at the bed sheets

"Maybe next time…you do that…" she mumbled and he hummed,

"Next time you might not be dripping wet and I want to try it now." He replied with a grin. She sputtered

"You said special occasion!" Mercury shrugged,

"Happy oral day?" Ruby squeaked as he tugged on her legs, she lost her balance and toppled onto her back, she curled up to look at him.

"I don't have to it back right!? I don't think I-" she began to protest and Mercury chuckled deeply, he looked at her with a smug grin

"No I don't expect you to blow me, you can barely give me a hand job." He breathed after settling down between her thighs. Ruby couldn't see his face, she looked to the ceiling taking deep breaths, she couldn't do- She moaned loudly as she felt his tongue press against her. Mercury was surprised, really, when he thought about how girls probably tasted, he assumed tasteless or fish. Sadly his internet history reflected that recent curiosity in vaginal taste, though no one had said sickening sweet. Not a one. Ruby tasted like cotton candy. That was weird. Mercury rolled his tongue in his mouth and frowned,

"Do you use like a sugar rub down her or something? Because you taste like-" Mercury began and Ruby snarled

"Say one more thing about how I should taste!" Mercury paused and peeked up, past the neatly trimmed curls of red was a very pissed looking Ruby propped on her elbows cheeks flushed and tears in her eyes. He shrugged and looked back to the folds before opting for what he thought was probably a good idea, he had a long tongue, he could touch his nose with it and Emerald had bet 5 lien he couldn't lick his elbow. 5 lien richer and proving the statement true, he figured it was useful for something like this; Mercury spread her folds a bit, ignoring her noise of curiosity and licked at her clit, silencing her before sticking his tongue into her entrance. Ruby jerked violently, followed by the most guttural moan he'd ever heard from her. She still tasted sweet, even with his tongue licking at her inner walls, there was that part of his brain that thought it was a little gross but more or less it was extremely, arousing. Ruby legs were wrapped around his head, the balls of her feet digging into his shoulders as she squirmed with each lick or thrust of his tongue back into her pink folds. She even smelled sweet, Mercury pulled back a bit to breath, the taste of her in his mouth, he was going to have that on his mind all week. He moved back and this time tried sucking at her clitoris, the response made his skin break into goosebumps, and a pleasing jolt sent straight to his groin.

"More…" Ruby moaned, long and slow; Mercury grinned before sucking again, honestly, it was still gross to think about for too long but in short term he couldn't get enough of her taste. He wasn't a fan of sweets but Ruby was something entirely different; he stuck his tongue in once more and took a long drag of her insides when she jerked with a loud whine and he pulled back followed by a rush of fluid. He coughed a bit, looking at her in surprise

"I know a warning is asking a bit much given your position but I was not expecting the floodgates to open..." he breathed reaching for anything to wipe his face off. Ruby moaned softly and squeezed her legs together, a soft gasp.

"Sorry…" she breathed, her eyes cracking open to rest on Mercury's straining erection;

"Why did you put underwear back on if you knew round 2 was coming…?" she mumbled and Mercury sneered

"Why did you put your panties on?" Ruby puffed her cheeks and didn't reply. Mercury reached for another condom and hesitated

"Do you still feel up for me in you or…should I take care of this myself?" he mumbled, she looked tired. A happy haze in her eyes,

"What do you taste like…?" she asked curiously. Mercury choked

"Pardon!?" he rasped dropping the condom back into the box, Ruby sat up and crawled forward, tugging at his boxers.

"What. Do you. Taste like?" she cooed with a wry smirk; Mercury swallowed

"I wasn't really curious on how guys tasted, thanks for asking?" he mumbled and she slid his boxers down. The wry expression faltered when his penis sprung up again, it looked an angry red, she made a small noise. He peed from that. Ruby held back a gag, Mercury kissed her temple

"I said we don't have to worry about blow jobs, seriously do you listen? I probably taste like…I dunno? A mouthful of salt and repressed aggression?" he tried to make light of it. Ruby's staring was actually a little off-putting, what the hell was she looking at? She had seen it before…like a lot to be honest. Mercury reached for the condoms again and keens when Ruby ducked down and popped the head in like it was some kind of sucker.

"NO TeETH" he squeaked knocking the box over; Ruby frowned. He did taste like salt. The little bit of gloop that were pooling into her mouth from the tip tasted salty but…almost in a good way. She sucked gently and Mercury nearly doubled over, she had opened her mouth more, keeping her teeth away as he had asked.

"Ruby-!" she cut him off with another suck, taking in a little more of the shaft, he sounded like he was suffocating. It wasn't so bad, though she had to close her eyes tight because if she opened them she knew she'd chicken out. She sucked a little more before slowly pulling back and releasing him with a soft gasp, she needed to breathe.

"Ok that was nice but you can sto-!" another cutoff point for Ruby. She took him back in bobbing her head down and sucking hard, Mercury sounded like he had just died, a loud yelp and low moan all mixed into one. Ruby began to bob her head, she hadn't really put much thought into this but she seemed to be doing something right as long as her teeth didn't touch him, she'd give a small suck when she reached the tip and a stronger one at the shaft. The rhythm was slow and awkward but Mercury seemed to be enjoying it, his hands a had curling into her hair and each suck was affirmed with a soft whine of grunt, on occasion his hips would start to jerk but he'd stop himself. Ruby pulled back for a breath, having not figure out breathing through her nose was an option, she went back and tried to go a little farther down his shaft with a very strong suck. Mercury jerked

"RUBY GET OFF!" he snapped, Ruby coughed and wretched away spitting a good sum of his cum into his lap with a hacking noise.

"What that heck was that!" she spat, her mouth was coated with it, nothing but a bitter taste with a pungent overlay of salt and stickiness. Though his expression was priceless, somewhere between wracked with pleasure and mortified that he had come in her mouth and she had promptly deposited it all over his crotch. He looked…embarrassed as well.

"…that was my orgasm…" he mumbled, looking at his lap in disgust, it was a complete mess. Ruby flushed and squirmed

"Did you know sperm can survive up to 72 hours in the uterus?" she blurted. Mercury looked up at her, he looked baffled and a little annoyed.

"That hell does that have to do with-" he began and Ruby squeaked

"They're in my mouth! Some of them!" she continued and Mercury raised his eyebrows.

"Uhh…?"

"Will they survive in my mouth for 72 hours!?" she demanded; Mercury leaned back

"Why are you asking me!? I didn't even know they lasted that long in vaginas! Why would I kno-" Ruby slid off the bed

"Oh my everything, I brought my toothbrush!" she hurried to her belt and dug in the contents of one of her pockets. Retrieving her toothbrush and travel size toothpaste,

"Are you really that grossed out I came in your mouth!? You came in mine!" he hissed. Ruby made a noise as she began to brush her teeth vigorously,

"You didn't even swallow!?" he pressed gesturing to his lap in exasperation.

"I donwan em' inma moufp!" she cried going to the bathroom to spit, Mercury sighed and flopped back

"You put my penis in your mouth, which is on you." Mercury huffed, Ruby spit and snapped

"I thought you would taste ok! You said I tasted sweet and it was fine, the taste was fine until you just- ew!" she flailed a bit and Mercury grunted, sliding into the bathroom to clean up. It was awkward, the silence, Ruby rinsed her mouth out again and Mercury turned on the shower. She hummed and looked over to him,

"…" she looked him once over. In the bathroom light, she could see him clearly, broad shoulders and narrow hips, the prominent V she had barely teased this session. Mercury glared rinsing himself off,

"This does not feel pleasant I hope you know." He huffed. Ruby jumped a bit before crossing her arms, he could see her just as much as he could see her. Petite frame, with wide hips, given her petite frame. The small breasts and soft collar bones. Whatever deities that had designed her knew what they were doing, innocence became her, yet at the same time she was sexier than she gave herself credit.

"I swear-" he began noting her teeth worrying her lip,'

"What do you say to shower sex?" Mercury sighed heavily.

"Ruby. I dunno about you, but I can tell you that I am tired. The stamina is great but save something for next time! We're going to run out of things you keep tacking things on…" he breathed turning off the shower and reaching for a towel. Ruby slid in between him and his destination of the towel rack, pressing against him. Mercury flushed,

"Ruby please…" he mumbled, she hummed and resting her hands on his hips, thumbs resting in the crooks of the V.

"Ok…" she murmured looking up. Mercury grinned and pulled away to dry off, Ruby swiped his shirt the floor and pulled it over herself. She flopped into bed and felt it dip when Mercury joined her, she settled into her half of the bed and jumped with he pulled her close. Closing the space.

"…it's cold." He muttered, nuzzling into the back of his neck and kissing the notch of her spine.

"Why are you…?" she murmured twisting to face him, he stopped her.

"Don't…just…keep it this way ok? If I look at you I might start second guessing myself…" he breathed softly, the sound of sleep sinking into his voice. Ruby flushed and settling into him, she could feel his chest pressed flush again her, his legs tangled with her and he sighed gently as he drifted off. Ruby turned and looked over her shoulder, he looked…peaceful, maybe even happy? She grinned and faced forward, trying to drift off herself.

Mercury woke up, nuzzled into her hair, the room was much lighter and he could hear his scroll buzzing loudly from the floor. He froze and looked down at her,

"Shit…" he breathed, he hadn't done such a good job at proving the fuck buddies statement true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't really know how oral worked so I hope it's about as accurate as I'd imagine it'd go.


	5. Wet Dreams

Mercury leaned back and looked over to Emerald, Cinder was going through another treatment, and both were standing by in case they were needed. She looked pale, strained, Salem wasn't leaving any room for Cinder to be vague or rest. It was hard at times to watch her practically scream silently in effort to find her voice; Mercury tried to think of other things while the lessons and treatments were going on. He hadn't seen Ruby in a while and he hoped that for the time being that was the best course of action, he had left in a hurry, didn't even wake her. The thought he might love her was terrifying to him, he didn't know what to do. Emerald perked up as Cinder approached, followed by Salem;

"Her lessons are done for the day. We made real progress, I will take my leave now." She spoke, ever the voice of dark mysteries and undertones of deceit. Mercury straightened up and waited for Salem to leave before turning his concern to Cinder; she looked exhausted, she waited for Salem to turn a corner before holding her hand out to Emerald who braced her gently.

"Let's get you to your room, you need to rest." Emerald chided softly, Mercury trailed behind them, ready to catch either if one gave out. Cinder had fainted a few times, after a particularly brutal session, Salem wanted the truth about Ozpin. She asked that the most, as if she either forgot it or just needed constant reassurance he was dead, the search for some relic continued no matter how many times she asked. They made it and Cinder was placed into her bed gently, she smiled softly and made a short grunt,

"…stay…" she coughed a bit and hunched her shoulders. Neither of her two associates made any move to leave the room, Emerald forced a small smile.

"How about a sleepover…? Like how things were when we infiltrated Beacon?" she offered looking to Mercury with a pleading expression. He smirked

"Just missing the popcorn and chick flicks." He teased while Emerald smacked him playfully, watching Cinder out of the corner of her eye, she had a small, weak, tired smile. Emerald and Mercury went about setting up pallets and a shoddy attempt at a pillow fort; Emerald helped her dress in comfy night clothes and removed all of her jewelry, they plopped her into the pillow fort and she sighed quietly.

"…I-…am…sorry." She forced and Emerald shook her head quickly,

"It's not a problem! You're tired! It's ok." Emerald smiled and sat cross-legged on the floor, wrapped in a blanket. Mercury joined her and leaned back on his palms,

"It's almost like old times, kinda." Mercury hummed, Emerald shrugged.

"Not as fun, but, hey. Taking over the world is never fun." She snickered, Cinder coughed out a chuckle;

"I have to-…agree with…you." She breathed softly. Mercury smirked, a comfortable silence fell over the room before Cinder sat up slowly,

"How…are-…your lives?" she asked softly; Mercury blinked, raising his eyebrows.

"…umm?" Emerald looked at her closely,

"Like…what have we been up too? 'Cause I've just been chilling around here unless there are missions needing to be done or errands Salem wants us to do." She replied casually. Mercury nodded in agreement,

"About the same for me…not much to tell." He murmured, Cinder blinked and looked at the two skeptically.

"As- many times…as I'm-…alone. You don't-…do other things?" she grunted, smirking devilishly; Emerald rolled her eyes

"Besides trying not to die from actual things that can harm you and boredom?" she teased and Cinder's smirk fell into a thin lipped line. Emerald leaned forward a bit and grinned

"Now Mercury on the other hand…he's lying. He has been sleeping around." She snickered, causing Cinder to pull back with a wide eye. Mercury gawked,

"Emerald!" he snapped, she shrugged and dodged a pillow he chucked at her. Emerald slid next to Cinder

"It's true though! He denied a relationship between us to presume the ladies!" Emerald giggled, Cinder smiling warily at him, he flushed an angry shade of red.

"It's only the one!" he snapped and Emerald smirked,

"Oh no. Bewitched by a woman's whiles huh?" she raised her eyebrows in a challenging manner. Mercury glared

"Well if were sharing personal things, maybe we should address the behemoth in the room, tell me, how are your feelings towards Cinder, Em?" he leered. Emerald gasped, her face visibly changing to shock, Cinder frowned in confusion before Emerald stood and huffed

"I respect her greatly, and if you can't take a joke, maybe we should really get down to the nitty gritty, like how you lied during your little maintenance outing about where you were." Emerald snapped, the room falling eerily quiet. Cinder's piercing gaze was trained on him,

"…you weren't at the mechanics overnight, you were at the hotel. I went to the mechanics looking for you, he said you had left in the late afternoon, so my best guess if you were with her at the hotel, yeah?" she sneered. Mercury paled, looking up at her, waiting for her accusation

"You're so lucky Ruby didn't hear you, moaning the way you were." She scoffed, Cinder snickered quietly before patting Emerald's calf.

"Could…you- get some…tea?" she asked gently, Emerald nodded and hopped over the fort heading out of the room to fetch what she needed. Cinder looked to Mercury and glared, he flushed slightly and looked to the side

"Mercury. Be…honest. I have-…my suspicions, who…were you with?" she asked softly. He glared at the floor and pulled his legs up to rest on them, Cinder slapped her hand onto the ground, commanding his attention.

"There have been too many-!" she coughed and hunched over trying to qwell the fit, he hurried to her side and held her carefully as she hacked and wheezed. She finally regained her breath and looked up at him,

"…Ruby-…she has been around…too many times…with you." She breathed pushing him away out of pride. Mercury worried his lip and nodded slowly, keeping his eyes downcast

"Ruby and I…entered a contract. A sexual one. We buy eachother's silence…." He murmured, waiting for Cinder to call for Salem, or kill him herself. Cinder looked at him carefully,

"…can I buy your…silence?" she breathed. Mercury froze and looked at her, completely mortified.

"Ahhh, no. Cinder, I think of you as the closest thing to family, I can't…do sexual favors for you, I mean you're hot but like…it'd be kiss my sister gross?" he began, worriedly waving his hands to pacific her before she began giggling quietly. She shook her head and sighed,

"I meant to buy your silence…by keeping your secret safe?...an exchange…" she hummed. Mercury frowned,

"You're not mad…I sleep around with…the enemy?" he asked carefully, Cinder sighed again and looked to the door.

"If I-…had strength. Maybe…but-…you look…happy. I'm far…too tired-…for measly…revenge. Let…Tyrian…have his fun." She finished with a wry smile, he blinked.

"Pardon...?" he breathed, Cinder leaned back into the pillow pile and smiled weakly,

"I could-…tell something…had happened at-…the expo. You came back…warmer. Like a child-…with a new, pleasuring toy. I connected-…dots soon after…but I saw no harm in letting you play." She hummed, Mercury crawled forward glaring at her.

"Why did you let me continue to do this!? I'm…Shit. Cinder. I fucked up." He croaked, running a hand through his hair. She smirked, raising one brow,

"I know…I figured-…that when you…returned, angry….like you had made-…mistakes. Do you-…care for her?" she asked. Mercury scoffed

"No! I can't, Cinder please, tell me to stop. I can't- Be angry with me! You want Ruby dead! She did this to you!" he snarled gesturing to her state of being. Cinder shrugged slowly, sluggish, like she was falling asleep.

"I can't be angry…because…I want-…to buy…your silence…" she trailed off, one gold eye trained on his. Mercury swallowed thickly, glaring down at her, frustration straining his throat.

"…I didn't- kill Ozpin…not exacly…now…we're even." She murmured, looking at the door as Emerald returned with the tea. Mercury pulled his gaze away from Cinder, trying to mask his surprise. Ozpin…wasn't dead? She was lying…to Salem!? What the hell did she mean!? 'Not exactly' what did she do then? How was someone 'not exactly' dead? Mercury swallowed around the lump in his throat, this information was deadly, knowing it put people at risk. Ozpin not being dead in the most permanent form put a bit of fire under all of their asses. Did Cinder not care that they were on the line when she lied? He could understand it if it was his own fault, getting caught sleeping with the enemy and being killed that way; that was just his own stupidity if it ever came to pass. Cinder lying to Salem about someone that had been on the top of a hit list since the beginning of working for Cinder, was a whole different ball game. Cinder made a slow gesture, a clear shake of her head, keep Emerald out of the loop.

"I got the tea all-…Mercury…are you, crying?" she asked, he scoffed;

"No. Cinder was just chewing my ass out over being safe. Raw dogging is not an option in this world." He forced and impish grin and Emerald groaned.

"Gross Mercury…" she sat down and divvied out cups, Cinder looked at him carefully. They had made an exchange, silence from one to another, he intended to keep it that way; for everyone's sake. It made sense now…kind of, in a weird way at least. Emerald would at least be out of harm's way, she didn't know either secret, but Cinder knew his, he knew hers. If either went down, he could claim ignorance in Cinder's case; Emerald wouldn't know and be honest from the get- go. Mercury could go down for sleeping with Ruby and Cinder as well as Emerald would come out unscathed. Salem depositing her rage all on one single person if she found out on her own terms.

"So…how are the treatments going?" Emerald asked, a tone of concern lacing every word, just from watching parts of the lesson, both knew that it was not pleasant to receive anything from Salem. The treatments dispersed in the lesson, ranged from strange liquids being swallowed down in hopes of freeing Cinder's voice, or strange incantations being spoke in an attempt at unlocking something Mercury nor Emerald could comprehend. Cinder took a small sip of tea and shrugged, looking at both of them with cough,

"Well enough…I assume-…to warrant…Salem's praise." She managed before taking another sip from her cup and settling deeper into the pillows. Mercury lifted the cup to his lip and took a large gulp of the warm liquid, never being one for the taste but he enjoyed the soothing feeling that came over him when Emerald prepared the tea. Emerald was taking small sips here and there, Mercury pulling out his scroll and turning off notifications before setting it to the side to play some small clips of videos that were saved to the scroll. Signal was ok in these parts miraculously, but the same couldn't be said for streaming abilities on the web, Emerald rolled her eyes at one particular clip.

"Really? You saved that? Out of all the interactions we had a Beacon…you saved the one with Ruby and her team, playing fetch with her dog?" Emerald grumbled as the little corgi appeared on screen, dragging one of Emerald's weapons behind it. Ruby was giggling as Emerald charged into the screen, protesting at the dog's behavior, Mercury smirked as Cinder smiled faintly.

"The dog…really got-…you." She breathed looking to Emerald with a soft snicker; Emerald glared at Mercury as the small video reel continued. It had videos of Emerald waking up, slapping him in the face as the scroll toppled to the floor. Others were of small little outings with Neo devouring ice cream and flicking some at her companions, one even had Roman in it. Mercury frowned, it hurt a bit to see him not…dead. He glared at the camera and huffed, blowing smoke at Mercury who had been holding the scroll

"Beat it, I'm busy kid." He gruffed, the audio sounding distant. Cinder sighed and looked at the video with a fondness

"He…was a good-…partner." She hummed, Mercury shrugged a bit and Emerald scoffed.

"I guess…" she mumbled, neither having the heart to disagree given what had happened, they weren't able to find a corpse and no one had seen Neo since they Fall of Beacon, but with the ship destroyed in the crash and no evidence of Roman being alive. He was marked as dead. The video continued until footage finally stopped, there weren't any videos left of their time at Beacon or before in the warehouse bugging Roman or pissing off White Fang members. The ones of Roman left a hollowness in Mercury's gut, he had been an asshole but…he had been a nice guy, the threats he made were empty and his quips of hating children were always deemed untrue when he popped in with surprise breakfast treats claiming

"Ordered too many, don't get any ideas." Mercury frowned as the last video came on, he was filming Emerald getting ready before the Vytal festival. It felt melancholic; that had been some time ago and now they hiding out, fighting, looking for some relic and keeping secrets. Cinder gave a silent yawn, Mercury tucked his scroll away, and Emerald cleaned up after the tea. Emerald made sure Cinder was comfortable, layering an extra blanket on her before Mercury helped her make pallets for the two of them. Cinder fell asleep quickly, leaving her eye patch to the side and remaining silent while she drifted off.

Emerald turned her attention to Mercury as she curled up under her blankets

"What did you guys really talk about? You looked upset…and being told to 'be safe'…isn't exactly a tear-jerker." Emerald whispered, close to his ear, he made a noise.

"Didn't exactly talk about being safe, more so how I should be careful…meeting the woman." He grunted, rolling onto his side away from Emerald and pulling his covers up to his neck. Emerald hummed quietly

"Who is she? The woman…for you to see her repeatedly…I want to know what kind of person she is." Emerald murmured, Mercury sighed and rolled onto his back and glared at the ceiling.

"We're not a thing…it's a contract…she's not in it for a relationship and neither am I." he growled, Emerald raised her eyebrows skeptically.

"So the sex is so good she's willing to meet you in different towns and you refuse me?" she grinned, Mercury snickered

"Don't put yourself so high, Em. I just got smart enough to know better…relationships make everything…harder." He muttered, glancing at her. She pouted a bit

"I mean, yeah…but they can also make you feel, I don't know, better? It takes some of the pressure off. A significant other to help you through things…" Emerald trailed off, Mercury frowned looking at her with an intent gaze.

"Yeah…and I know you'd like someone to do that for you…Emerald…I'm not good for anyone. Not really." He forced a half smile and she scoffed

"Now whose being high? Thinking I was asking for you personally…no I asked if you wanted to be a thing because Cinder pointed out…that you came back different one day. I thought something in you had finally snapped. The breaking point, you're a strong man. Strongest I have come to know, mentally and physically. I'd bet you could give Adam Taurus a run for his money…the problem is…you're soft inside." Emerald hummed, pulling herself up and carding her fingers through his hair as he adjusted to resting his head on her lap. He looked to Cinder and them his legs, a distance set into his eyes, he was listening intently and trying to think of a reply.

"You let some bimbo wriggly her way inside and now you're vulnerable to her, going out of your way to see her. She's gotta be special to you in some way." She grunted coming upon a tangle in his hair, even though it was spiked and choppy in places the longer spots got messy one in a while.

"She's not a bimbo. She's not special. She's just a woman, Emerald. It doesn't matter, she's got dirt on me. I have dirt on her, the sex just keeps us quiet." He grumbled and Emerald sighed heavily and jabbed his cheek pointedly.

"Ow! Hey-" he began to snap, pulling himself upright, Emerald shushed him and glared, looking to Cinder and back. He quieted and muttered under his breath,

"Tell me about her?" Emerald asked softly, a kinder look falling into place. Mercury blinked and looked to the floor,

"She's…shy. Really, really shy sometimes, like, she won't even say 'fuck'. She can't, she finds it too dirty for dirty talk! It's…sweet, I guess. She's also got a thing for metal so that's a plus for me, I can shove my legs anywhere and it'll still make her mo-" Emerald cut him off with an irritated flush spreading onto her face.

"Besides in the bedroom, what kind of person is she. Like, does she sing, dance, kill Grimm for a living? Happy-go-lucky, doom and gloom? Who is she?" she asked with a slight huff, sending him a sharp look. Mercury rolled his eyes and looked to the ceiling this time;

"She's innocent, pure…too good for me, that's for sure. She lights up a room with a cheesy grin and a little quip about something stupid. She is shy, though, about a lot of things, she likes…the interactions we have. She's a good girl, she won't kill me off if that's what you're worried about, Em." He teased, laying back on his pallet with a wink, she growled and went back to her pallet as well.

"Whatever. As long as it's not some brat…or Dust forbid one of the girls from Beacon." Emerald scoffed, burrowing into her covers. Mercury chuckled lightly and let his face contort into a deep grimace, that warning was a little late. He was already smitten with a little redhead who looked way too good in his shirts. Immediately, his mind pulled forth an memory of Ruby, sleeping in his shirt, too baggy for her frame showing the outline of smooth flesh the peaked at her breasts. He had left in a hurry, wearing his clothes, forgoing his shirt, so he had to feed out a lie that he has spilt something on it that ate threw it like moths who had been starving to death until his shirt appeared.

He knew Ruby had it, he didn't want to ask for it back, mainly because he enjoyed the idea of her sleeping in it nightly, breathing in the smell of oil, metal, and himself. Maybe touching her slickened folds- Mercury's eyes shot open. He could not afford to get an erection in a room full of woman who were already riding his ass in the bad way. He willed himself to go to sleep, pushing off all thoughts of the petite female who had stolen much more than he had thought she ever could. She even did it unknowingly.

The rest of the week was decent, nothing major happened…oh. Aside from Tyrian returning with his tail cut off. That pretty much ruining everyone's week because Salem was furious. Beyond furious to be honest, she was enraged.

"Some little girl and that Branwen bested you!?" she snarled, eyes practically glowing with her rage. Mercury and Emerald hovered by the entrance to the room, the same one she had assigned Tyrian to go off looking for Ruby in. Now she looked ready to disembowel him, he cowered beneath her, bowing as if she was some Queen, in she was in her own way. Cinder sat closest too her, the treatment had been put on pause when he hurried in, hunched over, his scorpion tail missing the stinger and bandaged. Mercury could only think of Ruby, if she was ok, if she was injured. Ruby may have cut his stinger off but he didn't want to know how much damage he had done to her to begin with. Salem dismissed them, they left with Cinder in a hurry. Mercury excused himself and contemplated dialing her, he could get caught if he wasn't careful; but not knowing what had happened was going to eat at him. He dialed and paced his room anxiously as it rang, she didn't pick up; it only rang once so she had seen him calling. He got a message back,

'I'm fine.' And that was all he needed to know. He didn't reply, only pocketed his scroll and fell into his bed with a heavy sigh of relief. He'd be lying to himself if he didn't admit he had come to care for her, deeply. The very thought of her not only stirred his desire but made his chest flood with warmth or ache sometimes with the thoughts of her, meeting people, finding the actual 'one', and realizing all they had was a fling anyway. He wanted desperately for this to just be a fling but at the same time, he didn't want it to just stop once they were satisfied. He wanted her, past all this bullshit war, if they lived past it all he knew he'd want her then. He groaned and rolled onto his side, glaring at the covers of his bed. He felt so…broody, like some teenager trying to figure out how casual sex had become 'well shit I want to marry her'. Though he wasn't a teenager, he was a young man in his twenties who had the sexual knowledge of a teenager who didn't start fucking until he was 19. He growled lowly as a piercing scream echoed through the castle walls, Dust knows what Salem was doing to Tyrian. Mercury might have felt bad for him were it not for the fact Tyrian pissed him off while simultaneously sending shivers of un-edge down his spine. He didn't really pinpoint when he had drifted off.

There were fingers trailing along his neck, he grumbled and rolled onto his back as a soft giggled reached his ears, he pried one eye open to glare at the offender when his breath caught in his throat. Ruby smirked and pulled back, slender figure illuminated by the red sky perfectly once more. Some part of his brain registered it was a dream but the sleep haze made that hard to understand, he smiled sheepishly as she crawled along him, his t-shirt once again being the biggest turn on as she pulled at the fabric, covering her crotch in a playful manner.

"Do you miss me?" she cooed breathlessly, Mercury groaned lowly

"You have no idea how much…" another giggle. Ruby's free hand played with his jacket zipper and pulled on it gently,

"How come I'm the only one so exposed?" she smirked lifting herself at the knees and rolling her hips and pressing the wad of his bunched up shirt against herself, she gasped softly.

"Oh, I'd like to fix that issue now." He held back a moan, he didn't know what it was about his dust-be-damned shirt but he knew it was about the sexiest thing he had seen since he had last had her underneath him. He fumbled with his clothes and pinned her down, biting his lip at the sight of the wet spot on his shirt

"Are you gonna fuck me?" she moaned, arching her back. Mercury paused, the haze clearing for a second, Ruby couldn't dirty talk, not yet anyway. Ruby glared,

"Mercury…? I'm waiting…" she breathed, squirming her hips. He shook his head and smirked,

"Sorry." He mumbled leaning down to suck at her neck, she hummed in pleasure and rocked her hips, he met them with his own and was pleasantly surprised to find she didn't have any panties covering her vagina. She was aroused and waiting for him, he grinned and nipped at her neck, his hand sliding into his shirt and cupping her breasts. Pinching the nipple for good measure, her little moans and gasps were perfect; he pulled away from her neck and practically tore the shirt off her before latching on to her other nipple and biting it gently. He sucked and nipped at it gently, pulling back to blow on it with cool breaths, Ruby's hips were spasming.

"Mercury…Mercury please." She whined softly, he pulled himself up and grinned, his arousal felt like lava boiling in his gut, he felt way to hot being in his boxers. He was sweaty, horny, and couldn't wait to be inside his Ruby again- he paused, the haze clearing again. Since when was Ruby…his? They weren't a thing. He began to pull back when her legs were at his prosthetics and she moaned loudly, the boiling worsened and slid his boxers down as fast as he could get them off, Ruby wouldn't stop moaning as she felt the cold metal sear her skin. Mercury hunched over her and pressed his mouth to hers to quiet her down and grabbed her hips to steady them, some part of his brain registered the missing steps but he was inside her in one fluid motion, moaning out her name into her mouth. He sucked at her teeth as he set a rhythm, fast but deep. He broke away from her to breath, trying to find some way to cool himself down. Everything felt hot, he thrust into her again, and moaned. Ruby was clinging to him, his shirt thrown somewhere in the room, she was sweaty and sweet smelling, like rose oils.

He pulled out and slammed back into her, hard. She cried out, it started it out like a scream but was choked off by her strangled moans, he smirked and lifted her hips as he propped himself up, thrusting down into her as she held onto him. The boiling arousal seemed to spike

"Ruby…" he moaned loudly as he felt his orgasm begin, for a brief second he felt a cooling breeze before he slammed into the floor in a tangle of blankets and a hot sticky feeling coating his body. He grunted and winced as he felt his release oozing out into his boxers…pants, smearing on his thighs. He inhaled sharply, a wet dream, how nice of his mind to think he needed some form of stress relief. He propped onto his elbows and kicked his covers off, that explained the heat, he had tangled himself in them during his throws of imaginary sex. He sat up and froze, eyes going wide, any misery caused by the feeling of cumming in your pants paled in comparison to the site of Emerald looking at him like she had just witnessed a murder. He felt his throat go dry, she blinked and stepped into the room and closed the door with a quiet, 'click'. He tried to form words, tried to think of an excuse, he didn't know if he had called out for Ruby, of if she was just shocked to have walked in on her friend of a few years having a wet dream.

The silence was worse than the heat. Emerald cleared her throat and crossed her arms, confusion in her eyes.

"Please tell me…I misheard you…" she breathed finally, looking at him with a hard glare; Mercury gaped and made a small noise before shaking his head, face red with shame. Emerald closed her eyes and inhaled slowly

"Of all the things you could do. Of all of your options in the world…you have to come to the consensus of Ruby fucking Rose!?" she demanded throwing her arms out wide and approaching him like she was going to instill the fear of Dust in him. He faltered briefly before steeling himself

"I think you meant, fucking Ruby Rose."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was super short to focus on the background aspects of the story since somehow there is a plot in all this porn. It's AU plot but still somehow plot.


	6. Shower sex, also I love you.

Emerald was silent, unhealthy so considering she looked ready to strangle Mercury where he was slumped on the floor. She was breathing in and out at a slow pace, he assumed she was trying to calm herself to avoid strangling him. It was a few long moments of uncomfortable silence before she sighed heavily.

"…how long have you been seeing her? Who knows?" she asked looking at him with a sharp glare; Mercury frowned and looked to the floor.

"…a few months…going on a year? I dunno we meet up and have sex! I don't exactly count the days we're 'together' I just- I just meet her to have sex with her!" he snapped, ignoring the feeling of disgust settling in his gut from the cooling substance and stood to face Emerald. She raised her eyebrows skeptically and crossed her arms

"Really? Then why keep it up? You're taking a huge risk fucking around with her!" she hissed shoving him angrily, Mercury growled

"I made a deal with her! If I go back on it I could have my ass handed to me not by Cinder or Salem but Ruby and her fucking little friends!-"

"So you're letting a little girl rule over you?" Emerald sneered, Mercury felt a surge of anger and his face flushed.

"No!" he snarled clenching his fists, Emerald cocked her head and made a small noise of doubt, Mercury glared and sat back on his bed, putting his face in his hands.

"…I-…I like her." He murmured softly, he looked up slowly with a darkened expression,

"I didn't mean too…I honestly didn't! It was just sex! I swear it was but-…then- I don't know. I woke up the morning we were in the inn and- I looked at her and it felt different!" he breathed. Emerald sat down next to him, putting a little distance between them,

"…So…tell me the details of the deal I guess…?" she offered quietly. Mercury frowned and sighed

"We saw each other at the weapons expo and she wanted me to sleep with her. I agreed because I was scared Cinder would find out…and to be frank…things with you- they weren't what I wanted…" he murmured running a hand through his hair. Emerald frowned and looked to the floor,

"You better not be blaming me for this." She warned and Mercury shook his head,

"No. I don't. I blame me, for being an idiot and letting things go so far that I actually developed feelings for someone I shouldn't have…." He muttered sitting up and leaning back on his hands looking at the ceiling. Emerald hummed lowly and leaned forward to rest on her knees,

"That is pretty stupid, I mean, couldn't you have just met someone who; I don't know, wasn't opposing Salem…let alone Cinder! What is she going to do when she finds out!" she hissed, Mercury scoffed and looked at her sheepishly.

"…she knew from the beginning I think…Cinder is kind of like that. What surprised me was that she wasn't even mad, she almost seemed fine with it. I think she was too tired to get angry at me." Mercury mumbled, Emerald blinked and gaped a bit before closing her mouth and shrugged.

"Wow. I figured she would have skinned you alive…" she mumbled, Mercury nodded in agreement.

"Same. I figured she'd freak out…but she didn't and- I know this is going to sound rude but I would really like to shower. You saw me…er…having a moment and I would really like to clean up. We could, maybe, talk later tonight?" he asked quietly. Emerald nodded and stood up and moved to the door and hesitated,

"Are you still going to meet her…even now? I mean…if Cinder knows and I know..?" she asked grabbing the handle. Mercury shrugged,

"I don't think I could stop…I mean- I probably could stop but being with her, is nice. She knows were not supposed to build a relationship and she's done so well and I'm the one at fault here so I guess it's more for my sake than hers. I like seeing her." He spoke quietly to prevent it from carrying into the hall. Emerald looked thoughtful for a moment before nodded slowly

"Ok…" she murmured closing the door behind her. Mercury got up quickly and gathered his things and took a shower, a long one. Something to help relax him, his thoughts were racing; they were mostly about Ruby and how she was doing, how he could keep up the rouse, what he was going to do if he got caught. It was awkward to say the least, considering he was the one growing attached to Ruby, she was kind and sweet; but she had never truly tried to start anything…more. Is she wanted more she had never really given herself away…Mercury dressed for bed, his appetite had dwindled to a point he felt if he ate he'd be sick. He curled under his covers and frowned, after Tyrian's failed attempt to capture Ruby and his injury, Mercury wondered if she'd permit him to even see her again. The danger that would pose to them both, not to mention Qrow showing up the way he did. Had Mercury been in the area he was sure that Qrow would have stumbled upon them, or just Mercury by himself and promptly dealt with him. Mercury rolled onto his back and glared at the ceiling.

"Why couldn't I do the one thing…" he mumbled to an empty room, if he could have just kept his heart out of shit like this. Just remain cold and as empty as his father had been, hate the world enough to not feel love…though Ruby hadn't been the first one to receive his affections. Emerald took that role, igniting the passion and fire he'd craved since first kissing her, and now…all he wanted was Ruby. He blinked and chuckled softly, from one gem to another…maybe he just liked woman with a bejeweled name? They seemed to always be the strong willed types, his small smirk fell into a tight frown. It would have been easier to just stay with Emerald, cut ties with Ruby, and return here to Emerald with all her wonders and knowledge. She made him feel incredible; satisfied and limp…but then he had to leave. They weren't an item, neither was he and Ruby; but, for some reason Emerald asking him for more felt…forced or hurtful, like she was just giving into to a spoilt child. Something Mercury had never been, he hadn't been spoilt, he only knew lack of or absences. He got attention only when he'd done something wrong, which was nearly his entire existence.

His door opened and Emerald trailed in, dressed in pajamas and looking thoroughly tired. She set down a mug of something hot on the nightstand after closing the door with her foot. She sat on his bed and held another mug taking a small sip,

"You were missed at dinner…" she hummed. Mercury scoffed

"Em, It's not really important or necessary I make it to dinner…" he gruffed, sitting up slowly. Emerald rolled her eyes

"Cinder missed you. She noticed, Salem could give less of a damn but Cinder…she was a little worried. I told her you weren't feeling well." She sighed looking at the windows.

"How can you even sleep with the constant haze of red? I usually have to close the curtains." She huffed pulling her legs onto his bed. Mercury was quiet, looking at the mug before taking it from the nightstand carefully.

"I've known worse conditions…this isn't so bad given I've gone days without sleep when I was younger. I have a bed, food, and a roof…I don't mind the constant red atmosphere too much…" he mumbled looking at Emerald carefully. She nodded

"I can understand the want for all of that…I didn't always have those either…" she replied, Mercury took a small sip.

"…I think the reason I fell for Ruby is because I wanted someone. I didn't consciously think it but deep down…I wanted someone. I've lived so long without any comforts of people…I was alone in the mountains with a man who didn't want me. Even though you didn't like me, I liked you from the start of all this. When you didn't accept me even after sex and being 'together', I guess subconsciously I was looking…" he smirked a bit, giving a small, bitter laugh.

"Ruby just happened to fill the space, it could have been anyone…even Blondie had I ran into her and she demanded something so intimate…" Mercury finished. Emerald sighed and shook her head,

"I don't think it works like that with you…I think you weren't looking at all and suddenly it just hit you, like being struck with an arrow meant to make you fall in love…" Emerald mused, Mercury scoffed.

"…An arrow…meant to make me fall in love?" he snickered. Emerald glared and waved her hand dismissively.

"You get my point! I'm saying that…sometimes we fall for people, and we don't see it coming." She huffed taking a long sip from her mug. Mercury looked to the side,

"Is that…how you ended up liking Cinder?" he asked quietly, Emerald frowned a bit.

"Kinda, it wasn't so sudden, it was more subtle and lacked the intimacy you share with Ruby…I would follow her anywhere…a little out of fear but mostly…because she saved me and from that day…I began to fall for her a little more and more. She's not as old as you would think…and to me age shouldn't really matter, I've seen couples comprised of many walks of life. Many I've stolen from." She smirked at Mercury before looking to the floor. He hummed

"…I garnered that…I mean she blended in with a school full of children…when did-…when did we decide this was going to be about our feelings and all this mushy shit? I mean I'm all new to it and I like the advice but it feels so…heavy in here." He grumbled, Emerald chuckled.

"It's never easy to talk about things when it comes to emotions. Anger and sadness are easily expressed with yelling and tears and we know what they mean…love and things like it are harder because…sometimes you have to learn to be distant." Emerald mumbled and Mercury felt his throat tighten,

"What do you plan to do after all this is over? You don't expect to be able to just return to a life where you can be with her. You've murdered people, helped plot an attack to cripple Vale, and continue to aid in those efforts to cripple Mistral. You can't just have some semblance of a normal life. Neither of us can." Emerald concluded softly. Mercury blinked and looked to the mug, finally figuring out it was tea, and his tastes hadn't been picking up the faint sweetness.

"…I didn't think there would be anything after, either…we win or we lose. I just…expected to die sometime between then and there…I'm just an extra in the grand scheme of everything. I'm surprised I'm still alive, to be honest…" Mercury shrugged, Emerald looking at him carefully.

"…Do you think like that when it comes to Ruby?" she asked, startling him ever so slightly; he inhaled sharply.

"No. I don't even know if I think when it comes to Ruby…I'm always trying to commit things to memory or look at her. It's weird…when it comes to Ruby…if things were different. I'd think I'd want an after…with her. Like how in old fairy tales…they get that sappy, happy ending. I'd want that, even knowing that I wouldn't enjoy the overly happiness I had reaped. Happy just doesn't suit people like me. We don't even deserve the happy end parts…we're the villains." He mumbled with a wry smile, Emerald scoffed

"So I'm a villain?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

"No. You're the complex character who starts off evil…but gets redeemed…like you'd be a wicked step-sister who wanted to see the protagonist fail, but in the end, help them because you've renounced your wicked ways." He grinned at her, before taking another sip of tea. Emerald blinked and looked away

"That's…sweet of you? Ah…is Ruby like, rubbing off or something?" she asked teasingly, Mercury raised his brow suggestively.

"Well she certainly has been rubbing something out…" he teased and Emerald snarled

"I take it back, every nice word about you I take back…" she grumbled, Mercury sighed and leaned back on the headboard.

"…Cinder's the wicked witch, who never really meant to be wicked…she wanted power and obtained it in all the wrong ways…so complex character for her too." He added with a nod, Emerald nodded along in agreement.

"…so if you're just a plan villain…which villain are you?" she asked with a sneer, Mercury paused and thought of the stories he had heard growing up, not from his father, more from other children playing and hushed whispers as people tried to scare one another.

"I'm the big bad wolf. I get my kicks from eating grandmas and little girls in red hoods." He smirked looking up at her as he took a long drink. Emerald scoffed and went to say something before Mercury's scroll pinged, he felt her intentions. He darted for it but she pinned him down and swiped it from its spot, opening it with a quick flick of her fingers. He paled and her smile faltered.

"…is this Ruby?" she asked holding his scroll just so he could see the name,

"…yeah…what does it say?" he asked cautiously. Emerald frowned a looked at the message,

"'Things are bad. Stay away.'" She let him read the message himself to affirm she wasn't lying. Mercury felt like a pitch had formed in his gut, he glared a bit before settling on something caught between being angry, and being disappointed. Things grew quiet after the message had been deleted. There wasn't a need to dwell on the meaning of said message, or to talk more about feelings or other matters as such. A week passed, Cinder's condition worsened, the sound she had worked so hard for were impossible it seemed, she could barely even whisper to Emerald. A month passes and Cinder hasn't recovered any ground, Salem is furious but good at hiding it. Tyrian is back out in the world, looking for Ruby, lacking his stinger and his pride after Salem had so viciously destroyed it.

Another month passes, everything becoming some strange blurry haze of Grimm, assignments, more Grimm, Cinder. Mercury kept his tongue well between his teeth when Salem scolded Cinder countlessly,

"You have to do better than trying! Where has your voice gone!" Salem snapped, Cinder could only shake her head and make breathy chokes in an attempt at words. He and Emerald would help her to places, sometimes Emerald would have to feed her, she barely had energy to walk straight anymore with Salem riding her into the ground. Cinder didn't even try talking anymore, it was almost surreal given almost a year ago she had the strength to murder him when he'd first began to see Ruby, and now she couldn't even acknowledge her subordinates. Mercury was startled at Dinner, his scroll vibrating in his pocket, he had jumped a bit, only Emerald noticed and he shook his head.

"Thought I heard something…" he shrugged and waited for the safety of his room before looking, he felt dread and excitement all at once.

'I need you. Meet me soon…' and that was followed by an address to an inn in Mistral. Mercury grinned and hid the scroll away on his person, he had no way of getting there without a good reason and Cinder wasn't able to help him this time, Mercury tapped his fingers together and sighed. He'd have to get there himself, which meant taking an airship without permission…

Mercury frowned and hid his face in his hands, growling lowly in frustration he wanted to see her, needed to see her. His own selfish whims and desires for carnal desires were going to get him skinned alive but they were more than just desires now. He needed to see her, his chest ached to be away from her so long and he could figure out why. He looked up and worried his lip, making up his mind. One more time. One last time with Ruby and then, if he got caught…then Ruby wouldn't have to worry anymore about keeping secrets. He swallowed thickly and stood slowly, he was going to be a dead man but he would at least be able to go out with some vaguely pleasant feelings.

He managed to make it to the docks, surprisingly no one watched the ships, why would they? Grimm everywhere, Salem being who she was…no one would step out of line, unless of course that someone was Mercury. He thought briefly that maybe he just had a death wish and little resolve left to live, though he knew that was a lie. He didn't really have any lack of will to live, Ruby didn't breath it into him, no woman did, it was more like spite. Spiting his old man every time he took a damned breath, he didn't want to die, he figured Salem wouldn't skin him immediately, she'd probably want everything he knew about the little girl in red. Too bad he wouldn't give that up for the world. He could pilot one of the smaller ships, he knew how to drive those, it was oddly surreal all things considered.

He was risking everything for one last shag with a girl he wouldn't have paid any mind to years ago, but now she like an omnipotent thought, always there in the background. He left. Ship and all, no one sounded any alarms or began to panic, a part of him brushed it off as them believing he'd be back and with his return the problem would be dealt with. He made it to Mistral, well more like outskirts, and ditched the ship out of site from any travelers on the road. He felt so, out of it? He would never do this, not ever. Never go back on order, never betray your employers, and certainly never fall from some girl who will most likely never come to know you. He huffed quietly, making it through the streets, fairly early morning.

He followed Ruby's address to a little inn crowded between two large shops, she had left a note with the clerk and he couldn't contain the excitement building as he rushed up the stairs and to the room, barging in rather unceremoniously. Ruby shot up, hair a wild mess, eyes startled wide, she blinked before stumbling off the bed and crashing into him.

"So much has happened!" she cried with a gasp, he closed the door and hugged her tight, enjoying the feel her again. She pulled back and ran a hand through her bangs,

"So much-…I…Tyrian happened and my Uncle got hurt so I couldn't risk a meeting with you…I-…I'm here for a little while. My team we-…things are crazy…Haven is…not what we were expecting." She sat down on the bed with a creak, she looked tired. Mercury followed suite and frowned,

"Is your uncle ok…?" he asked, noting her expression change. Ruby frowned and folded her hands

"It's…complicated, he's not dead. Which is good but…he's not traveling with us as before…he also, knows about you…" she breathed closing her eyes in a grimace.

"He would see you, or rather, see me meeting you and connected the dots given our location. Last time he knew completely…I also told him. I thought he was going to die and I was scared and I wanted him to kno-" Mercury cut her off with a soft kiss.

"I don't care…" he murmured pulling away after feeling her push back with a soft moan,

"Emerald found out…so I don't think it matters…just-…can we have this? It may very well be the last time given…well…the shit going down currently." He chuckled softly. Ruby nodded and pulled herself up to push him onto his knees and wrapped her arms around his neck lazily.

"Why would we have to stop…?" she asked, a soft frown spreading across her face, Mercury smiled a bit showing his concern

"Because…things are getting heated now, there's a bit more danger floating around now…" Mercury held a long pause, making up his mind rather quickly after another moment, if he was going to end up getting his ass handed to him, might as well give Ruby some tips.

"Tyrian is out and about again, either looking for you or doing other things…" Mercury murmured resting in the crook of her neck. Ruby listened and felt the rumbling of his voice against her, she closed her eyes tight, pushing the image of Tyrian out of her mind. His deranged smile wasn't exactly a turn on and Ruby wanted this, she needed this. Her time with Mercury was wonderful…she couldn't lose it because of her thoughts.

"Can we not dwell on that?" she asked softly, Mercury pulled back and kissed her neck gently.

"I would rather not dwell on it myself…plus, you took his stinger. I think he knows better than to hurt you again." He cooed laying her onto the bed and pressing against her with gentile movements. Ruby moaned softly, and carded her hands into his hair, Mercury hummed appreciatively.

"So…last time I was promised shower sex." She smirked softly pushing up on him so he could look at her properly, he could still see the lingering worry in her eyes from other things going on and he wanted to make her forget. He grinned slyly and leaned down to kiss her, sliding in tongue and deepening the kiss with a roll of his hips.

"I will make good on that, do you still have the lube and condoms? The lube is going to be vital in this kind of event" he mumbled pulling back with a smile. Ruby nodded slowly

"I have them…" she breathed, Mercury smirked and nipped at her jaw, slowly undoing a few buckles and belts on her dress. He loosened her corset and undid the white shirt around her neck, Ruby, in turn, undid his belt and tugged at his pants and lifted his shirt up to find his hips again. He groaned breathlessly

"Dust, if that's not your favorite spot its certainly mine…" he rolled again and Ruby giggled looking up at him,

"I think it's my favorite spot…you always have the best reactions when I touch here." She rubbed her thumbs and pressed into the grooves gently with enough pressure to send the arousal straight to Mercury's groin. He moved back and pulled off his shirt and returned to stripping her down,

"Should we move to the shower?" he asked with a slight purr in his voice. Ruby nodded excitedly, shimmying her stockings off and sliding the dress down to pool on the floor leaving her underwear on, she turned around and flushed as Mercury stared at her, a warm smile spreading across his face.

"Dust, I have missed looking at you this way…" he whispered shucking his pants down and following after her into the smallish bathroom of the hotel room; Ruby had already placed all of the items she'd previously purchased from before a little unceremoniously on the countertop. She paused, looking to his legs

"Actually, question, can you stand and- well y'know, stuff? Or are you going to slip and fall? I don't want-" Mercury cut her off with a soft kiss and traced the hem of her panties with his fingers,

"I have taken an infinite amount of showers with my legs on, this shouldn't be any different." He mused while Ruby hummed skeptically,

"You weren't exactly having sex, though…" she mumbled, shifting nervously. Mercury sighed with a curt chuckle

"Would you rather go a round on the bed and then come to the shower? It partly makes sense as we'll just get dirty again…" he suggested, pulling her close at the hips.

"I'm fine with either, ok?" he gruffed looking down at her with a gentle smirk. Ruby flushed and wrapped her arms around his waist

"Let's start on the bed, let's get back into the swing of it before we try anything crazy." She declared moving to grab the condoms and lube, Mercury rolled his eyes and picked her up, depositing her onto the bed after hurriedly carrying her back.

"Waste of time deciding but it's fine." He snickered before pinning her to the bed and deepening a kiss. Ruby moaned into it, rolling her hips, they were right back where they started, though the irritation Mercury had felt at Ruby's indecision quickly subsided as she pressed against his groin, sending a pleasurable wave of heat straight to it. Mercury moved on hand to press against her womanhood and smirked, feeling the dampness of her panties, she was definitely craving this kind of intimacy given the amount of her fluid he could feel seeping out. Mercury pulled back for a breath and returned right back to her sliding his tongue in to her mouth to roll against hers, Ruby's hands couldn't pick a spot. They were either in his hair, on his back, or his hips. She gasped as he pressed his erection into her and moaned when he rolled upwards with his hips, she pried one hand away from him to feel for the condom box. Mercury went to her breasts and sucked a nipple between his teeth, he never got tired of seeing the little kisses of pink on her breast, he never got tired of greeting them with a little teeth and tongue either, nor the sounds Ruby made. She keened and arched her hips, the heat in her belly only making the wetness pooling between her legs worse. She needed him badly, so much was going wrong in the world, she was tired, and honestly just ready for him to take her.

"Mercury-" a soft gasp followed by a low moan as he gave her nipple a gentle suck,

"I know it's been awhile but- Ahah!" she yelped as he moved to the other nipple with a little bite that was rougher than the first.

"I want to start now!" she cried out with a loud whine following behind it, he smirked and licked at her slightly salty skin and moved one hand to the nipple not in his mouth, and the other snaked down to her crotch and pressed against her with soft pressure. Ruby jerked downwards to try and get a little more than what he was using. Mercury pulled back,

"No no, we're savoring this. I want to savor all of this. Commit everything to memory so that I have something to keep me warm at night." He teased softly before sucking her nipple back in and kneading it with his teeth, the other hand gave a light pink and the one at her entrance dove towards her clit. Ruby jerked with a loud keen and bucked her hips, her panties were still on but the roughness off the fabric rubbing over her vagina was pleasurable combined with everything else. She growled shoving at her panties and managing to kick them down after enough squirming. Mercury chuckled lazily as he pulled away to watch her struggle, he placed his hand, cupping her whole sex and palming her slowly. Kneading her folds and feeling the fluid drip between his fingers. He smirked and licked his palm when he was done with that, Ruby watched in anticipation, wondering if-

"You still taste so sweet…" he mused contemplating a round of oral, but then again…

"Though I think we should just stick with the itinerary, though I would love to taste you again." He breathed moving two fingers to tease at her folds and slip towards her entrance to prepare her, he assumed it would go quickly given how many times they'd done this. The spans between them however; always leading him to make sure she was loose and ready for him. Ruby moaned, no holding back or choking them off halfway out, neither were in the mood to be shy. Mercury slipped in his two finger and hummed with a sly smile,

"I'm surprised, have you been taking care of yourself while I'm away?" he mused thrusting his hand forward and curling his fingers to play with the inner walls of her cervix. Ruby gasped and arched her hips slowly, he moved his hand with her and thrust again, his thumb rubbing her clit as he twisted his wrist while he was at it. He pressed his lips to hers and swallowed down her moans, feeding her his own in turn, he broke off with a soft exhale;

"Dust, I've needed this!" he gasped pulling his hand out to his fingertips before shoving forward to the knuckles, his thumb pressing against her clit and rubbing furiously. Ruby practically wailed, Mercury grinning into her shoulder and nipping at the skin, his fingers began a scissoring motion to stretch her, he did it a little quickly, given she was rather loose, she was dripping, he could feel her fluids pooling on the bed and seeping into the fabric. Mercury away with a growl,

"Enough of the foreplay…" he yanked his boxers down and pulled a condom out and tore it open, rolling it on carefully and propped himself up over Ruby looking down with a lurid smirk. Ruby smiled breathlessly,

"Yes. Let's get to the next part-…stick it in please." She begged softly. Mercury moved and pulled her hips up, he felt her hands spread out on his back, holding her too him. He groaned as he slipped in the tip slowly, Ruby gasped and wrapped her legs around his, keening at the feeling of metal. Mercury didn't take his time the rest of the way, he thrusted forward with a grunt and Ruby moaned, her face melting into one of pure bliss. Mercury smirked and pulled her to kiss him while set a fast rhythm, rocking in and out of her with forceful thrusts of his hips into her while she moaned and rolled her hips trying to pull him deeper into her. Her calves pressed into the metal of his legs and with each touch another slew of moans and little breathless keens would assault his ears as an inferno built in his gut. It was nearly unbearable.

To look at Ruby's face forming precious 'o' and half-lidded gazes as he thrust into her over and over, the pleasure he felt in knowing this was theirs. He moaned softly as her nails bit into his skin, she was nowhere near close but he could tell she was writhing in her own pleasure. Ruby scrunched her face up and rocked her hips as he rolled back into her, pulling her hips upwards,

"J-Just! Like that- Again!" she cried arching off the mattress with a gasp as he repeated the action baring a triumphant smile. He kept a steady pace, not so much as rabid-humping, more like somewhere in between that and painfully-slow, a perfect one in Ruby's hazy opinion. Mercury leaned down to pull her into a sloppy, open-mouthed kiss, he tugged at her lips and ran his tongue over her teeth with a pleasant low rumble in his chest. Ruby moved and held onto him around his neck, holding him to her mouth as she moved her tongue with his. She broke away with a gasp as he jerked his hips in one fluid motion, making Ruby see soft spots around the edge of her vision. A low moan and she began to move in time with him, trying to pull him in deeper with his thrusts, her coil of heat was wound way too tight for her liking, Mercury shifted and moved one hand from holding her hips to play with her folds and tease her clit.

Ruby cried out and moaned loudly, Mercury grinned as her cry was strangled out into a keen as she came. He smirked looking down at her as she writhed in pleasure as he rolled into her over and over, trying to release. Ruby moaned as he continued to play with her clit, though a little awkward to deal with while he kept thrusting into her, he could feel her fluids coating his fingers as he did and he groaned. He slammed into her hard and the heat in his gut burst, he moaned lowly leaning down into her neck, letting the euphoria of his release cascade over him. Ruby sighed breathlessly as the tremors inside her calmed, the tightening of her inner walls going slack around him.

"…I can tell you missed me…" she breathed, on hand combing his hair idly, the other limp to her side, Mercury pulled back a bit and slide out of her with ease.

"Oh? Did you doubt me?" he cooed softly, Ruby snickered and hummed, basking in afterglow; Mercury slid off her slowly and cleaned up. He disposed of the used condom properly and flopped into the bed next to her.

"So…are we still up for shower sex or should I take that pleased expression as you're sated?" he mused and Ruby smirked, looking at him teasingly.

"Think again, I'm just taking a breather…" she mused softly, rolling to her side and cupping his cheek gently. Mercury smiled a bit and hummed, his hands encircling her hips and pulling her close;

"We better get started on it then…" he mused rolling off the bed and lifting her up, she wrapped her legs around his waist and grinned with a soft giggle. Mercury carried her to the bath and set her on the edge of the tub, Ruby cupped his face and kissed him softly before pulling back. She crawled into the tub and pulled the valve to start the water flow, Mercury went to open another condom packet when small hands stopped him. Mercury looked up, ready to sneer at her indecision when he was met with gleaming silver and an earnest expression.

"I want-…I want to know what it feels like." She breathed, her hands trembling; Mercury felt a lump form in his throat immediately.

"No." he replied quicker than he had intended, Ruby shook her head.

"I-…I have been taking medicine. For a while now actually. At first, it was because of the journey I was on, couldn't exactly have all the supplies we needed when villages are so scattered…and it's a good safety precaution. Yeah." She murmured, slowly removing the packet from his grasp, he couldn't take his eyes off her.

"But. If this is the last time. I want to feel you. Skin to skin, I want you to-" she made a face, turning a deep red in her cheeks.

"I want you to come inside." She finished, looking away and focusing anywhere but him. Mercury felt all the warning bells go off, this was a bad idea. Birth control could fail, it really could, and then where would they be? No way he could have a kid with her at a time like this. He didn't even want kids.

"Ruby there are too many risks with that request…" he mumbled softly, his hands trailing at her hips gently. He could hear the water roaring behind her and she scoffed,

"I'm not leaving this up for debate. I have been taking birth control and I want this. One last thing to remember…I have- er…another medicine too. Something I'm supposed to take in the morning."

"Ruby…" he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Please…let me feel this with you…" she whined, pressed her forehead to his. Mercury swallowed thickly and nodded slowly,

"Ok…ok. Fine. But- you don't get to blame me if you…y'know." He mumbled looking to the side anxiously. Ruby caught him in a kiss,

"Mercury, I've been thinking about this for a while now. I have measures put in place." She murmured cupping his face. He scoffed

"Why not save something for any future boys, huh?" he teased lightly. Ruby smirked, it sent a shiver up his spine

"How can I be sure they'll satisfy me the way you can?" she breathed lowly, Mercury blinked. A heat rushing to his groin. Ruby pulled back and stepped into the tub,

"Now come on! We're wasting water…" she huffed.

Mercury grabbed the lube bottle and set it on the edge and stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain closed before cornering Ruby against the tile with a devious smirk. He leaned into her neck and nipped at the skin while he pulled the tab to change the flow of water to the showerhead, Mercury shivered as a spray of cold water ran down his back.

"Shit." He breathed, the cold water wasn't going to help in bring back his erection, though to his surprise Ruby began cupping him and squeezing gently as he continued to nip and suck at her neck. A soft moan escaped him as she traced up his shaft and gripped it gently, the water was starting to warm and he moved a free hand to the small of her back and pulled her close to feel her against him. He could feel her nipples pressing into him from the chill and she gasped as he moved to her collar bones and nipped at left a small red mark. He pulled back and caught her lips with his and groaned as she squeezed harder and he could feel the heat pooling in his belly and groin, the hot water helping the rise in temperature of the room. He pulled away in a hiss a particular forceful squeeze at the base

"You don't need to hold me there, are you afraid of falling?" he grumbled with a soft glare. Ruby was already flushed down to her chest, the delicate pink looking a darker shade in the low light.

"N-No….I just, don't know where to-" Mercury cut her off and heaved her up, setting her legs near his hips. He was going to have to be quick if he didn't want to drop her, but pushing her into the corner was a good point of leverage. Ruby hooked the balls of her feet against his prosthetics, the sensors detected it faintly he looked to her face and she moaned quietly.

"You feel warm…but you're legs are still cool to the touch…" she breathed, rolling her hips into him. He could feel the warmth of her against him. Mercury grinned and pressed his forehead to hers

"Can you put the lube on for me?" he mumbled, keeping a grip on her as he shifted his hips back. The water felt nice, but it was a little difficult to hold someone slowly becoming slippery. Ruby nodded and reached for it, shifting to grab it and squirting a generous amount in her hands. She wrapped her hands around the shaft and slathered it on gently. Mercury smirked and kissed her gently rolling his hips into her hands as she added pressure, Ruby moaned into him and moved to hold onto him as she shifted her hips so he could enter her. Mercury broke the kiss with a gasp and moved to position himself properly, Ruby whined as he held back, watching her with a wry smirk.

"Mercury…what are you doing?" she whined, glaring at him; he shrugged, moved to hold onto her butt, squeezing gently. Ruby squeaked and whimpered softly

"Please?" she asked softly. Mercury hummed, enjoying the deep rumble reverberating in his chest into hers. Ruby pulled herself towards him and kissed him softly with an open mouth, slipping her tongue in feeding moans into him. He pushed her up and slid into her gently. Ruby felt amazing, without the thin veil of latex to block some of the sensations, she felt incredible. A hot cavern of heat and slickened walls, everything before paled in comparison to this feeling of hot, wetness that engulfed him. He moaned softly and thrusted up into her, Ruby cried out breaking the kiss arching her back. He grinned kissing her jaw and thrusting into her repeatedly, careful to not go to fast and risk dropping her or losing his footing. Ruby was writhing in his grasp, trying to find words. He'd hit her sweet spot, she was trying to convey that to him, he picked up on it quickly. Mercury pulled out to just the head and thrusted into her again, she keened lurching forward. He watched with a careful eye, trying to hold everything. His chest felt hollow compared to the burning heat running wild in his belly; he was going to miss her.

Mercury caught her in another kiss, thrusting up into her in a rhythm that was languid. Slower than normal, he wanted to savor this. The hot water running down their bodies, her face contorted in pleasure only he could give her…until she found another of course. Mercury withheld a grimace as the sharpness of that thought, the ache in his chest would not impede this moment. Ruby broke the kiss in a loud moan, rolling her hips quickly into him as she came, her walls squeezing him tighter and tighter until moving into her almost became an issue. Mercury picked up the pace then, shifting her to get a better angle and ramming into her as quickly as he could. She screamed, a soft shrill one constricted by the lack of air in her lungs. Ruby looked the meaning of perfection, hair tangled with water, sticking to her face as her silver iris's boiled and hazed over in sequence at the euphoria. He thrust upward, yanking her into him, going deeper. She squeaked out a quiet 'ah'; he couldn't feel her fluids drizzling down, there was too much water to disconcert what was what. Mercury kissed her shoulder lazily and hummed.

"I haven't quite released yet…so I'm going to keep going…" he breathed, hoping she could hear him over the water. Ruby nodded, a small jerk,

"Please." She whimpered, her hips squirming as her inner walls began to relax. Mercury nodded and changed his position, moving one hand to the small of her back, the other remaining firmly on her ass. She was still pressed into the corner when Ruby moved, pushing him back. He pulled out with an irritated grunt, clear confusion spreading over his face. Ruby turned and pressed her hands onto the tile, her chest facing it, and she moved her hips back to where Mercury had access to her womanhood.

"You can probably move more this way if you want?" she asked, her legs trembling, how she found the strength to stand was beyond him. Mercury grabbed her hips roughly, thrusting into her in one swift motion and growling. He pressed his forehead to her back, but between the shoulder blades and kissed gently before pulling out and slamming back in, causing her whole body to jerk and a small cry to escape her. The heat still building inside was a roaring inferno, if felt impossible to rid himself of it. With each thrust it only grew, the hollowness in his chest ignored in favor of trying to quell the burning slowly consuming his being. Ruby made small whimpers and moans, followed by gasps as he moved one hand to grope at her breasts while her hands tried to dig into the porcelain tiled walls.

Finally, with a loud cry, cut off by a gasp, he released inside her. Ruby moaned, pressing against the tiles and squeezing her thighs together as a new sensation flooded her, the feeling of warm fluid coating her insides. She keened softly, as Mercury held her close, his hips giving a few lingering thrusts as he breathed heavily, panting against her back. He could feel his release oozing out around him, rinsing away with the water that was slowly going cold. He groaned softly, hands wandering her hips lazily as he pulled out. He looked down and flushed, a small feeling of satisfaction drowning out the underlying disgust of seeing his released dribbled out of her entrance. This was quite the sendoff. The after glow began to die at that thought. This was it…they'd part ways now. Ruby straightened after another soft gasp, her legs squirming at the feeling between her thighs.

"…help me wash?" she asked reaching for the small bottle of hotel shampoo and body wash; Mercury nodded and smiled softly. Ruby looked like some innocent goddess fallen to Remnant, her slender form, the messy, damp hair, the soft curve of her hips leading to gentle thighs and sloping calves. He wanted this image to last, her perfect breasts with the dollops of pink, the soft collar bones….her eyes. He took the shampoo from her and began to squirt it onto her scalp and knead it gently

"You should clean yourself up down there…It won't be pleasant if it's still oozing when you're dressed…" he offered, trying to offer advice he wouldn't even know if it worked. Ruby gave a small nod and washed herself as he scrubbed her scalp, they were slower in these movements. The water growing cold, like they feared what would happen the moment they were out of the tub. He rinsed her off and Ruby turned to wash his hair, he knelt down to accommodate for her smaller size and by the time the water was turning to ice both were clean. The water turned off and Mercury pulled the curtain open, stepping out and making a noise of concern,

"I need to let these dry before I go anywhere…" he fibbed. He wanted to stay longer, touch one more time. Ruby nodded and began to dry off, pulling on panties and his shirt. He grinned cheekily, enjoying the fact that she would probably wear that shirt long after this had ended. Long after she'd found someone else, she'd still put that on and remember him. He pulled on his underwear and ruffled his hair with a towel while he sat on a nearby chair and slowly removed his prosthetics. Ruby watched from the bed, her eyes full of awe. He smirked and set them machinery on a bath towel and watched the water slowly drain from the crevices. He pulled himself up and Ruby shot off the bed to help, he stopped her with a wave of his hand.

"Ruby…I've lived with these for a very long time…I know how to move without them…" he chided softly. She frowned softly, watching him move on his palms and the segments of metal where prosthetic met flesh, he pulled himself onto the bed and rolled onto his back, feeling a nervousness creep into his gut. He didn't want to look at her and see pity, or horror. He didn't want to think him weak, or impaired by this, he'd lived like this for so long, he didn't even remember how grass felt running barefoot after frogs in summer evenings. As rare as those were, he was surprised he even remembered a moment like that, to begin with. His gaze finally trailed down to her and she was watching with a quiet expression as if she were contemplating a thought. He raised his eyebrows and rested his hands behind his head, acting casual as he leaned back onto a pillow. Ruby moved and crawled into the bed, her hand resting on one of this thighs, caressing it with her thumb.

"You've lived a long life for someone your age…" she mused before crawling up the rest of him to press her ear to his chest and listen to his heart. She settled there, holding him gently like he was the fragile one.

"…if this is the last time we're gonna see each other like this…tell me about yourself?" she asked, tracing shapes on his chest. Mercury moved one arm to hold her and the other to lazily rest on his stomach, looking down at her with a soft expression. He felt like this was right like this moment was meant to be theirs and no one else's…he couldn't see her with anyone but him, maybe that's why the ache was so prominent he thought.

"What do you want to know…?" he hummed quietly, Ruby looked thoughtful before shrugging

"Stuff about you I guess…who your parents were, where you grew up…stuff like that I think…" she hummed. Mercury nodded

"I expect to hear the same in return then." He gruffed before mustering up the collectedness he'd come to know so well when it came to thinking about his life. Marcus never did him any favors…

"My old man…was a dick." He grumbled rubbing her hip slowly,

"My mom…a whore, never met her, dumped me on him after she decided to have me. Even though it would have been easier for her to have not even bothered…" he grunted, an irritating tightness forming in his chest. He never talked about these things with others, Emerald knew but he had, had no problem spilling the beans to her, with Ruby…he felt as if telling her everything would change how she saw him, and that once she knew him this way…he'd just be vulnerable.

"I grew up in the mountains…just me and my dad…" he breathed, Ruby hummed

"I grew up in Patch, that small island just off of Vale. I had my dad…Taiyang, my sister…Yang…my mother died giving birth to me, I only have pictures and stories about her…" she smiled, a bitterness setting in.

"And as it turns out my dad isn't even my real dad!..." her voice took on a soft strain and Mercury looked at her softly.

"It's Qrow! Ta-dah!" she forced a chuckle before her lip trembled,

"He- he was scared of losing my mom and me, so he just up and left! My mom went to live with Taiyang and they fell in love and then my mom died and Qrow was too scared to take me…" Ruby curled up and Mercury pulled her close.

"Are you mad at him?" he asked, she nodded.

"I'm furious! Deep down I'm so happy to know he's my father but in the end, I'm so angry he didn't want me!" she cried, Mercury sighed and withheld the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"Ruby, I don't think it's that…he probably wanted you more than he can convey…but I know I'd be scared too…if I had a kid to raise all on my own with the life I've led…I'd want someone else to look out for them and keep them safe..." Mercury hummed. Ruby sniffled and shook her head,

"Sorry, sorry…I just…It's hard to think about with everything going on…" she mumbled and Mercury shrugged.

"I get that…I'm trying to think of how I'm going to explain myself…I'm probably going to be in some serious shit" he chuckled, looking at the ceiling. Ruby went back to tracing shapes, he could feel the tears trickling down his side but he made no comment;

"…what do you like to do in your free time?" she asked softly after a few moments of silence.

"I like comics…I read them, kinda. I'm not very good at reading actually, I know the basics but some words are harder than others. The pictures sort of help me get what's going on…" he replied honestly.

Ruby looked up at him, red-rimmed eyes and the molten silver iris'

"I wouldn't have guessed that…" she murmured and Mercury scoffed

"Excuse you, sorry I'm not the smartest. But, how about you…what do you like to do?" he asked shifting a bit to press more into the mattress. Ruby hummed in thought

"I like designing weapons if that counts…" she said with a soft chuckle, Mercury smirked.

"I would expect nothing less of a girl like you." He teased, Ruby puffed her cheeks,

"What's that supposed to mean!" she exclaimed playfully jabbing his side. He snickered and sighed, moving to comb her damp hair, enjoying the feel of it.

"Ok, …one more." She rolled onto her back, head still resting on his chest, Mercury made a noise to show his attention.

"…do you love me?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper, he felt his chest tighten and burn with a sickness he wanted to be rid of. He throat clenched, fighting the answer he'd been preparing to say since the moment he'd realized his heart wasn't as cold as he wished it to be. His lungs refused to take in air, he wanted more than anything, to tell the truth, to stop lying, to scream out his heart and wish she'd love him back. He wanted more than anything to have her when everything was said and done, when the war was over when whichever side had won and nothing was left to play, he wanted to wake up next to Ruby. Have her smile, and say what his whole being craved. He felt his tongue stiffen, every part of him wanted, to be honest, but he couldn't afford honesty, not now.

"No…" he managed softly, the tightness in his chest snapping into a void leaving him unable to catch his breath.

"I'm so sorry Ruby…" he managed weakly, his voice betraying him, his intentions, his thoughts. Ruby looked up gently, her face soft and kind, her eyes warm as ever. She hand moved to cup his cheek and she brushed away hot tears gently, Mercury held back a sob building in his chest as she comforted him. He didn't understand, nothing made sense. Ruby sat up slowly and combed his hair gently,

"It's ok…it's ok, I'm not upset…there's no need to cry…" she cooed. Mercury nodded and sat up to cup his face in his hands and shake his head, Ruby combed his hair and leaned on him.

"It's better this way, I…I'm not in love with you. So it's better this way." She managed with a soft grimace.

Both were such liars.


	7. Prologue to the End.

"What if none of this ever happened?" Ruby murmured quietly, curled up against Mercury's body, her finger tips tracing scars with feather like touches that made his skin break out in goosebumps. Mercury frowned, his hand idly combing her hair paused and looked at her carefully.

"…was the sex bad?" he gruffed sending her a small glare.

"No! Oh my gosh, not this. The thing with Beacon, the world practically ending…Cinder and Salem…all the bad stuff…" she corrected gently, lifting herself up onto her elbows to look at him. He could see the tear stains on her cheeks from their early confession, he bet she could still see his too.

"I dunno. Maybe life wouldn't have been so shitty." He huffed, letting his hand fall to the side as he studied her.

"…what if while we were at Beacon we started dating?" Ruby mused, a coy smile stretching over her face. Mercury hummed thoughtfully and leaned up to fold his hands behind his head, he'd cross his legs if they were attached but they were still drying.

"It…wouldn't have been a good first date. I'm an asshole and not good with people. I would have probably taken you to a burger place or ice cream joint…I don't know, nothing fancy cause that seems to posh for you and me both." He snickered lightly. Ruby grinned cheekily,

"Ok, So burgers and shakes for a first date, you insult our waitress on accident and get your shake dumped in your lap." Ruby teased, Mercury's eyebrows shot up.

"Well if shake ended up in my lap, her tip was nonexistence and I went off on her manager."

"Which gets us kicked out, I didn't even get to finish my burger, Aww." She giggled softly. Mercury hummed

"We'd go to a park then, I still have chocolate-banana shake all over my pants, but it's nice out and I somehow have gotten you to stick around." He offered, waiting for her reply.

"We hold hands for a while, but you pull away…you're not good at opening up or getting close to people." Ruby states, she knows him well enough to predict his actions. He didn't doubt he would have pulled away, both from nerves and his mission, but in this little fantasy there was no mission. Only homework, student drama, and academy sweethearts.

"I'd apologize for my behavior…and somehow you'd find the situation hilarious enough to attempt a second date, this time a movie, horror because I like the violence and gore. I'm also trying to get you to cling to me."

"Jokes on you, I'm pretty tough. I make it through ¾ of the movie before I grab ahold of you and crush your arm in a death grip…we start going steady shortly after." Ruby supplied with a smirk. Mercury grinned

"I graduated a year before you, I've been working as a huntsmen for a few months but I still make time for my girlfriend of a few years." He offered. Ruby scoffs

"I have to put up with your wild schedule and odd hours but we make do, I graduate and join as a huntress, we're rarely stationed together but we splurge and get an apartment together." She tilts her head a bit and pushed some hair behind her ear.

"I make love to you for the first time there, we're sweaty and pissed about something I dropped and we fall into bed like we're hormone driven teenagers."

"You didn't sleep with me back at Beacon?"

"Heavy petting and steamy makeouts, but I saved the sex for when I knew for sure we'd be together a long while." Mercury mused. Ruby smiled

"Our first time was wonderful, though I was pissed at you up until you started hitting my sweet spots…we work a lot so things get strained from time to time, you've got a temper and sometimes you say hurtful things you never mean." Ruby mumbled, Mercury pulled her close and kissed her deeply. He slipped his tongue in and kept her busy, hands tugging at her hair as he pressed her against him.

"I do my best to apologize, I hate upsetting you. I'm not good at making things up to you either, I can't cook and I'm still an asshole, the best I can do is make you moan and forget how much of a terrible person I am." He breathed into the shell of her ear. Ruby keened softly and pushed on him,

"I always tell you, you're not so bad, usually after you've made things up to me. My dad doesn't approve of you just yet, then again he doesn't approve of anyone me or sis bring home. My friends have accepted you at this rate, realizing you're here to stay."

"Emerald likes you, and that's all the support I need." Mercury huffs, pulling her back for another swirl of his tongue along her teeth. Ruby's grown breathless, her hips rolling along his thigh, post-sex adrenaline lingering in their veins. Mercury can feel some arousal building up in his belly as he moans into her mouth and bucks his hips upwards.

"I propose. On a mission in the middle of some Hell, you look beautiful, the destruction and Grimm around I blurt it out hastily. I don't have a ring yet but I need you in my life, you're the best thing that's happened to me in a long while and I know I won't have anyone better in it." Mercury breaks the kiss panting, looking at her in some sort of desperation. Ruby beamed

"I say yes, immediately after shooting an Ursa that took a liking to you, we go home and fuck hard and sweet, overjoyed that we were on the same page." Ruby cooed, kissing her neck gently, resting her arms on his shoulders.

"Did you just-!?" Mercury began,

"I find out I'm pregnant a few weeks later." Mercury's question died in his throat as he stared her down.

"I'm…Anxious, but happy…we move the wedding date up so you don't look like a cow on the wedding day." Ruby punches him with a playful smile,

"It's your fault I'd look like I swallowed a melon!" she teased, tackling him to the bed, her hips pressing against his leg; she was wet. Mercury groaned inwardly and pulled her against his chest, hands running along under the shirt to tease at her flesh.

"We exchange vows, promises to keep each other safe, promises to love each other…and those in our future." Mercury murmured, kissing along her shoulder as his hands cupped her butt and played at the hem of her panties.

"We make love, gentle and slow, we don't have a honeymoon cause we travel enough. You're so careful, terrified of hurting me…now that we have something we could lose." Ruby breathed, a soft moan escaping her as she ground into his thigh, trying to find stimulation.

"I'm terrified of being a father, it keeps me up at night, I don't want to become my father and you tell me I won't ever be him all throughout the pregnancy." Mercury murmured, a light flush of embarrassment on his cheeks. Ruby giggled,

"I tell you what a wonderful father you'll be almost daily, though you fawning over our unborn baby proves that without a doubt."

"It's a boy…Copper." Mercury blurts, his ministrations paused as he breaks out into a grin.

"Copper Black…he's like his mother, a little shy but gets louder with time." He snickered, squeezing her before sliding his hands up quickly and capturing her mouth in a kiss before she can object. Ruby breaks if off with a devilish smirk

"You're still so handsy and lovey dovey after Copper is born, we end up with 5 kids in total." She mused. Mercury blinked

"Excuse me, 5!?" he frowned, eyes widening.

"We still make love like crazed teenagers, it's a miracle we didn't end up with more." Ruby teased, kissing his chin and nipping at his neck.

"Ok, yeah, But 5? How did we end up with 5?" he asked, genuinely curious, though her continued his grappling of her body.

"2 were planned, however, 1 turned into a surprise set of twins and the last one was an accident that we didn't find out about until I went out for a mission and was sent back after the medic found out my motion sickness was actually morning sickness." Ruby explained looked down at Mercury with raised brows. He smirked and made to flip them over but flopped back, a small gasp escaping him.

Ruby burst into a fit of laughter, trying to contain it, he'd forgotten his legs were still across the room. She cupped his face gently and kissed his nose before kissing him lazily, her hands leaving his face to pull at her panties, she broke the kiss with a pant.

"No…penetration ok? Can we just-" Mercury slid a hand along her thigh and rubbed his thumb along smooth, pale skin.

"Yeah…yeah, ok." He nodded sitting up slowly, their conversation paused for a moment as he fingered her slowly. She moaned, long and low and rolled her hips as he began to pick up the pace

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were getting off to our little fantasy story?" Mercury teased inserting a third finger and hooking them quickly. Ruby cried out, face going flush

"What's wrong…with- Ah!" she jerked forward and arched her back, hissing as she did so.

"With wanting…A life with you?" she moaned, looking at him with hazy, molten eyes. Mercury felt his penis twitch, a low moan building in his chest.

"Everything. I'm a terrible person remember?" he grunted, accenting his words with a rough thrust of his fingers. Ruby braced herself on his shoulder and keened softly

"You're not terrible! You're- Ahaaaa…" she breathed, her hips stuttering forward in rhythm with his hand.

"I'm…?" he teased drawing his fingers out, feeling her fluids running down his wrist,

"You're my everything!" she cried, whining at the loss of contact. Mercury froze, looking at her with a worried expression,

"Ruby you can't mean that…" he protested softly, she growled in frustration, hips bucking furiously

"Why can't I mean it dammit! It's what I want! I want that life with you, you stupid moron!" she shook him a bit and flopped down into his lap and ground her hips against the bulge in his boxers.

"Dust, Mercury! I've been lying about it all and you can't figure that out!? Like Hell I don't love you! It's my biggest regret coming from this, I don't know if I can live without you, you've got me turned on with a few kisses and fantasies we can't have!" she cried, tears pooling in her eyes. Mercury swallowed slowly and pushed her onto her back, kissing her softly.

"I lied too…" he mumbled, looking at her sadly, Ruby blinked, a shy smile appearing.

"I knew that already…I heard it in your voice…" she mumbled, Mercury rolled his eyes and pushed his fingers back in, resuming a steady pace of thrusting and hooking his fingers inside her. He grazed her G-spot, causing her to cry out shrilly and spur her release. She moaned quietly, squirming underneath him in her orgasm bliss

"I love you…" she breathed, looking at him with soft, warm eyes, and sweet smile. Mercury felt his chest erupt in little sparks, he thought he'd die right then and there. It was out in the open, what they felt, what they wanted, hell Ruby had sold him on the 5 kids they'd never get to have.

"I love you too…" he returned, lying down beside her. Ruby turned on her side, a bit sluggish

"…I've wanted to hear that for a while actually…I'm so happy to finally hear it…even if it is the end." She breathed. Mercury nodded,

"It's a relief I didn't know I needed…" he murmured.

"…should I?" she gestured to the very obvious bulge in his shorts, Mercury shook his head

"Nah…I'm a little tired, I think another one and I'll be dead to the world." He huffed gingerly. Ruby whined

"Well now I feel guilty having you get me off again…" she mumbled. Mercury chucked,

"Consider it a bonus, a thank you for getting me to feel something other than bitterness and rage at those who've wronged me…which apparently was the whole damn world…" he scoffed.

"…" Ruby was silent, watching him carefully,

"I really fucked it all up…thinking about it…maybe we could have had that stupid little fantasy with the apartment and 5 kids, hell add in a dog just for shits and giggles…" Mercury felt his throat tighten.

"Copper, Silvia, Magnolia, Thorn, and Garnet." Ruby stated, looking at him with a warm smile.

"You raised them, and they loved you whole heartedly, same as me. We we're one big happy family, dozens of grandkids, a cabin in Patch to retire too…we lived full lives."

"…I died in my sleep…I didn't want to leave but It was a long life." Mercury felt the tightness ebb a little, as Ruby cupped his cheek and pressed her forehead to his.

"I follow a few days later, I can't live in a home without my wonderful husband beside me…the one I met all those years ago at Beacon…who I had 5 lovely children with, and a few dogs, Corgis. All of them." She breathed with a soft smile. Mercury curled up against her and she combed his hair in a comforting motion

"…you don't have to go back to them…you could just disappear…that way, I'll know your alive at the very least…I don't think I can bare knowing you're dead…knowing I didn't try to save you." Ruby mumbled, the rumble in her chest lulling Mercury.

"I know…but there are a lot of things left there, Emerald is there and I don't want to leave her alone…she's family…even if she makes it out like she hates me sometimes…" he hummed softly. Ruby sighed and continued to comb his hair, looking to the window, wondering what time it was.

"…I think I'll sleep for a bit…then go." He offered quietly, Ruby nodded a bit and felt the familiar tug of dreariness on her own eyes.

"One last night together…sleeping of course." She teased kissing his cheek, Mercury let out a short chuckle before maneuvering the covers around them and watching her drift off, she looked serene. He liked to think that there was some alternate universe, with a Mercury and Ruby, who went to bed every night in each other's arms, with babies of their own. The happy peacefulness they can't have, he wished the world of it upon them, those alternate versions fighting over stupid things and making up within moments of the argument concluding.

Maybe in this world Torchwick would still be kicking as some begrudging godparent, with Neo at his side making him smile with their inside jokes and sign language to keep their dealing private. Cinder would be whole, happier too…same for Emerald, overjoyed in her own way at being an Aunt.

Mercury wished the best for them, that universe that probably didn't exist; but he still wished the best for it, just in case there was an off chance the star had aligned for that Mercury and made up for all the shit he'd endured growing up.

Replaced his loneliness and bitterness with love and compassion for his family. Replaced his temperament with passion, his desire for revenge on the world that had scorned him replaced with a peace he'd never known.

Mercury sighed, feeling sleep finally begin to take him, he was glad to have this, even if it was just for a few hours more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally this was the End-End. But on FF.Net I got so many reviews saying that couldn't be the end, there had to be something else, I actually wrote a better ending and just called this one a sort of Prologue???


	8. The End.

It was miraculous what the human body could do in times of stress and weakness, numbing a source of pain completely, blocking out horrifying memories, and many other small miracles of the mind. There was another loud crack that reverberated through his ears, Mercury took comfort in the lack of pain he felt in this moment, staring defiantly back at Salem as she leered down at him.

"If you knew what was awaiting you here Mercury, why did you return at all?" her voice a low growl as she addressed him, the main hall had been closed off, just for the two of them. Her cold, red eyes were a soft glow of rage as she sneered, pointed nails digging into his chin, forcing him to meet those eyes.

"…" he remained silent, having returned to the castle, Salem looming just outside the entrance with the calculating glare, he followed with no resistance, not even batting an eye when she closed the doors to the main hall with a flick of her wrists and the grace of her ever silent body. She moved to a chair and motioned for him to sit in suite.

"I will only ask this once…where did you go? I want the truth…" she trailed off looking at him carefully, he held his tongue, leading to a snap, a dark tendril dragging him from the chair and to the floor. It held him there as Salem continued her interrogation.

"Why must you be so difficult, all I ask of you, is to be honest with me about what you were doing these past few months. Emerald refused to tell me as well." She murmured softly into his ear, he stiffened and looked away, a frown etching its way onto his face. A crack of a tendril biting into his skin through his shirt and jacket. Salem watched, eyes studying his expression for weakness. He held his ground, tongue stuck in his throat as he avoided her gaze, another cracking sound as the tendril tore through cloth and bit into skin.

"How does it feel to be weak again? Under the control of someone stronger than you? That you can't ever seem to take control of your own life because there will always be someone much stronger? I knew of Marcus Black, for a long while. Of what he could do, his skill sets and abilities. I found myself impressed, hearing of his deeds, kills fulfilled from miles away. Assassinations pulled off without a slightest disturbance detected. I sent Cinder out there to find him when the time came for such skills, imagine my surprise when I found that he had, had a son? Not to mention that Marcus had driven that boy to kill his own. I would hope the abuse and skills beaten into you would strength whatever resolve had brought you to kill your father, and lash out at the rest of the world. You did for a time but now you've…softened." She sneered angrily. Mercury glared and chose this moment to speak, a low, biting tone,

"…You should find someone else then." Salem's eyes widened and narrowed in a quick snap of transition. Another crack of the tendril and her nails dug in harder, drawing blood; Mercury grimaced.

"…" He fell quiet again, Salem growling lowly and twisting his head upwards, he grunted but kept his tongue in check, looking at her with as much hatred as he could muster.

"Just tell me where you were…and I will stop." She cooed, another slice of flesh snapping under a whip of tendril, the pain was missing but Mercury could feel the crawl of blood oozing down his back and into his clothes. He looked down, waiting for the pool slowly collecting beneath him to grow large enough he could see it; it wouldn't be the first time he'd seen so much of his own blood. Salem waited, surprisingly patient, as if she knew he would begin to talk sooner rather than later. Mercury sighed and pulled back, her nails scratching his face as he did.

"I was with…Ruby. Just Ruby...I didn't conspire against you if that's what you're thinking. Why would I? Frankly I was anxious about Cinder or you finding out…" he huffed feeling the tendril binding him down tighten briefly before letting him go. He stood, stretching his arms, feeling the skin on his back split more, and the pain was beginning to slip in, wicked claws picking at the nerves seemingly one by one.

"I slept with her…had my way a few rounds and we'd part ways. Granted I went a little out of my way to have our little meet ups…but things here wer-" Salem stopped him.

"I know of you and Emerald's fooling around, you may be good at lying but some walls tend to be paper thin…I knew for a long time that you two kept each other busy, and I know that the mood was very sour in the air when she cut things off." She cut in softly, her voice a waiver of silent rage barely contained.

"…Then you know the whole story." He mumbled quietly, remaining standing, not giving the chance for her to drag him down again. Salem's eyes flickered brighter, a sly grin spreading along her face.

"Mercury…please. I am much wiser than you seem to give credit, having a fling with someone doesn't soften a cold-blooded killer. Flings don't fill people's hearts with a warm satisfaction; little, meaningless flings lead to an end of hunger. You feed the creature inside yourself that craves affection and pleasures of flesh and you move on to the next meal awaiting down the line. Telling me it's a fling, when you stole a ship, disobeyed me, and lied through your teeth to protect the truth. I already know it's not just a fling, you slipped up. You fell in love, and if you had just been honest with me, you wouldn't have had to endure the pain I bestowed." She mused gently, a tone Mercury seldom heard from her. It made his skin prickle and the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"We can work through all this, this mistake on your behalf. I can overlook all of this mess if you apply yourself, show loyalty, and ask forgiveness of me. I know Cinder is fond of you and I can be forgiving, Mercury." Salem cupped his cheek, he could still see the faint glow of anger in her eyes. He swallowed thickly and nodded, eyes downcast,

"I'm sorry…it was a mistake I shouldn't have made…I will try to amend it." He mumbled, Salem dug in her nails and jerked his head up

"It's rude to not look me in the eye when you ask forgiveness." She hissed, the faint glow brightening as she continued to hold her head up. He shivered and grunted, looking into her eyes, it reminded him of staring down a Grimm ready to attack. He knew she'd kill him here and now if she didn't like his answer or tone of voice when trying to apologize, he didn't know if he even wanted to make it out of this room. A life wasted for the wrong people, Mercury could guess this would be where things ended. Her gaze held him in a grip, his voice had left him, he whined in an attempt to form words. Salem's smirk stretched into a sneer as a tendril began a slow glide up his back, running over blood and marred skin, and winding itself slowly around his neck.

"Mercury. I am waiting, and unfortunately I am running low on patience. I have many other things to attend to and oversee and you are waiting my time. I expect a sincere apology, otherwise I have no choice but to deal with you as a traitor." She explained, as if she were chiding a child rather than a young man for his actions.

"Forgive-…Me." He grunted as the tendril began to tighten at an alarming rate. He could feel his airways being crushed, gasping for breath,

"P-…Ple-ase…Salem." He coughed, squirming in her grasp. Hands shot up to the tendril, finds a slimy, ooze like substance taunt around his throat. He sputtered as he tried to manage another apology, his vision tinging black, he was lifted briefly, legs flailing as Salem let go to watch. A slight expression of amusement crossing her face as he struggled before he was let go, slumping to the ground unceremoniously.

Mercury wheezed and sucked in oxygen, writhing on the ground for a moment before he could process he wasn't dead, he remained hunched over, shivering in place as he recovered slowly.

"I am glad we could come to an understanding, I know Cinder would have missed you terribly had something happened to you. I will ask for you to pull a little more weight around here, things are stretched thin with Ruby and her team working endlessly against us. With no relic either, things have become complicated, we still need to bring Ruby here as well; for Cinder's sake of course." She explained, folding her hands in her lap as she took her seat. Mercury sat up slowly, looking tired and shaken, not wanting to meet her eyes again.

"Mercury…do you think you could bring Ruby here?" she mused, watching him closely. He jerked up, eyes wide,

"I don't-…"

"How can I know to trust you? That you'll be loyal after what you've done…I need to know. I want you to bring Ruby here, for Cinder. She needs closure and I need to know if you'll cause me grief in the future…won't you do this for me? For Cinder?" she cooed warmly, a sticky sweet tone that made his stomach twist in knots.

"…I can't-"

"Before you finish that sentence I want you to think, very, very. Carefully Mercury…" she trailed off, her focus moving to someone behind him. He turned, following her line of sight and groaned inwardly, Emerald.

"…I heard voices and-" she began but was quickly cut off with a gesture from Salem.

"Emerald. This is between Mercury and myself…please excuse yourself from the room until we have finished here." She commanded.

"…Yes Ma'am." Emerald murmured, eyes locking with Mercury's before shifting them upwards to Salem, Mercury turned back to Salem and kept quiet as Emerald stepped into the room. Salem made no movements, giving off is she noticed her or not.

"Mercury, I am waiting." She hummed, cocking her head as if to show her impatience; Emerald helped him up slowly, eyes remaining on Salem, refusing even to blink. The moment he was steady they ran, Emerald tearing her eyes from Salem; a shriek of rage and a crashing noise reverberated throughout the castle as Salem leapt forward, the doors slamming shut behind Emerald.

"You need to leave!" Emerald snapped, looking for anything to jam the doors with; Mercury grabbed an elongated candelabra and stomped the bottom legs off before shoving the pole through the handles of the door and pulling Emerald away and towards Cinder's room. They could hear the stir of Grimm outside the castle, as well as the sounds of footsteps rushing around from the loud shriek Salem had given. It wasn't exactly going to be a quiet get away, Cinder had awoken too, her eye flicking between Emerald and Mercury.

"Cinder we have to go!" Emerald protested, moving to pull her out of bed, this was rather spur of the moment Mercury felt but if they stayed now Cinder would be down two people very close to her heart. Cinder nodded and slipped on shoes, and a robe to cover the scarred flesh on her right side. She moved sluggishly but it couldn't be helped with as weak as she felt these days, Emerald lifted her easily and they rushed to the docking area, avoiding Grimm that had stormed inside looking for them.

Cinder was set down gently as they prepared an airship, a small one that Mercury had taken earlier. He booted the engines and it gave the tell-tale hum of ignition and he shoved the landing brake off before hurrying outside to help get Cinder aboard.

"…" she stood slowly, a deep frown worrying her features before she made a shaking motion and pushed Emerald back into Mercury.

"Wha-? No! You have to come, we're not going to leave you here! Not with her!" Emerald protested, grabbing Cinder's arm and pulling her closer to the ship.

Cinder grunted and pulled back again, looking to the castle, the hoard of Grimm crawling over it, coming towards the landing strip, Salem's form could be made out just barely in the chaos. She didn't look to be hurrying either, the sight of her Grimm alone would be enough to strike fear in any lesser beings' hearts.

"…" Cinder looked pleadingly to Mercury, before stepping back and ripping her arm free.

"I-…can't." she grunted, glaring down at her feet; Mercury made a grab at her and Cinder slapped his hand back.

"No!" she snapped, her voice sounding strained and cracking from the force behind her words.

"You have to go! I will stay!" she continued, refusing to look at them. Emerald shook her head,

"Not without you! We have to take you with us! Cinder please!" she begged, reaching for her once more. Cinder scoffed and looked at Mercury, her face a deep scowl. His chest tightened and he looked away, worrying his lip and shifting his weight anxiously before he grabbed Emerald.

"Mercury-!? What the hell are you doing!?" she snarled, kicking her legs angrily as she squirmed in his grasp, she even vanished for a moment but he held tighter, knowing she was still there.

"Dammit! Mercury Stop, we have to bring Cinder with us!" she screeched, fighting against him as he strapped her down into the cockpit. He rammed the propulsion lever for take-off and it slowly began to pull off the ground. The Grimm seemed to still as they neared closer to them, their focus on Cinder more than the ship taking off.

"Mercury if you leave her here I will kill you!" Emerald snarled,

"We'll both be killed if we try to take her! Salem isn't letting her leave this place any time soon, we will have to regroup just trust me please!" he snapped increasing the thrust to the engines. Emerald slumped back in her seat and a heavy sigh escaped her as they cleared the castle, the ground becoming a blackish haze while the glow of the console illuminated Emerald's tears.

"…I hate you." She hissed softly, Mercury remained quiet, programming coordinates, keeping an eye out for any airborne Grimm.

"I'm taking us somewhere safe, if we stay out of sight and keep a low profile we can effectively disappear until we can make the right move…whether it's to help protect Haven…bring Cinder somewhere safe…whatever you want…I'll go along with…" he explained carefully. Emerald scoffed and looked out the window on her side, a soft glare.

"…we need to get you medical attention first…" she huffed after a few long moments of silence,

"We can deal with that when we land, I'm not really worried about me right now." He murmured his focus shifting between the console's map and his viewport, his back would need stitches, and he was honestly amazed he was managing himself so well, given the blood oozing down his back and ruining the seat. His plan was to take them to Patch, or some outlying island near it, he knew of one or two hideaways his father had used in case of a pinch. If luck would have it Patch wouldn't have received too much coverage of what had occurred in the past few years, their pictures and names left anonymous.

It was all he could go off of this point. The silence stretched on with a few stray sniffles here and there, Emerald trying her best to hold back but it seemed she didn't have it in her. With all that had occurred he didn't blame her for crying and just letting go, he'd follow her example but he needed to be of sound mind…he'd done enough crying, he was ready to just let it be and take a long, long rest; didn't matter if he woke up or not.

"…I'm surprised you're holding together so well." Emerald murmured softly, Mercury shrugged.

"I've been through worse…I've done my crying about this mess with Ruby…and Cinder…I think I'm just done…I want some rest and then we'll go from there." He murmured, clearing the land mass that Salem had converted into her homeland. The ocean was beneath them now, soon they'd be within Patch's airspace and he have to run as covertly as he could to get them close to the safehouse. He hoped it was still there, or at least not run down and decrepit, it'd been a long while since it had been in use. Emerald drifted off at some point, the quiet sniffles becoming soft, rhythmic breaths.

He wasn't looking forward to what was to come, he hadn't thought of what to do after something like this, a complete betrayal of Salem, abandoning the closest person besides Emerald that made up his little rag tag mess of family. He sighed heavily, landing the ship on a somewhat clear patch of land on one of the outer Islands, they'd have to work inland to get to Patch itself but he didn't want communications asking for serial numbers or identification. He got up slowly, letting Emerald sleep, it was pitch black outside seldom for the stars and the dimmed glow of dust powered engines, he could see ships in the distance when he stepped outside and onto sandy earth.

He remembered this safehouse well, it had been the closest thing to paradise in the hell that had been his childhood, Patch was small, you could walk across it in a day if you were committed, one side however was hostile swamps, the safehouse rested just on the edge of it. He could feel the blood flow sluggishly steal away his resolve, he was losing it faster than he'd thought previously but there wasn't much more he could do. Getting Emerald to safety was a priority, then he supposed blood lose could take him, whatever adrenaline that had been keeping him functional was bleeding out as well. He sat down, feeling the sand shift and looked up, if he'd had known this could be the end, maybe they should have taken Cinder. Rescued her.

"…I didn't think I'd die like this then again…" he gruffed softly, feeling his head begin to swim in that same familiar feeling of sleep taking him gently. It wasn't cold, well maybe he felt could but it seemed the spring air in Patch was a little warmer, a little humid too. He smirked groggily and collapsed to his side, resting his arm under his cheek; faintly he heard someone call out but by then he'd closed his eyes, intending to rest.

When he opened them next, he was staring up at some unfamiliar ceiling, an irritable Emerald hunched into a chair. He frowned and moved to sit up and hissed when his back protested in agony, sore muscles and pulled tight skin with the feeling of sutures holding it in place, not to mention the amount of gauze. He glanced to his other side and saw a blood bag and what looked like saline in the other all hooked up to him. Emerald perked up at his shifting,

"You are so fucking lucky someone saw us land!" she snapped slapping his arm not receiving life giving fluid. Mercury frowned, cocking his head, the outcropping Island should have been empty.

"Some moro- Guy. Was out stargazing or something and saw us, he came to see what was wrong thinking it was an emergency landing…were you really just going to bleed out and leave me stranded like that!?" she hissed, tears pricking her eyes with worry.

"…Not really." He croaked softly, trying to clear away some of the fog still crowding his thoughts. Emerald sighed and slumped into her chair

"He left a little while ago to get something to eat…he hasn't started asking questions but he looks the type to ask and be thorough about it. I don't know what kind of story we can make up that explains why your back looks like someone's vent art…The damage went deep in some parts too, your lucky nothing to important got hit." She explained softly. Mercury made to sit up and squirmed

"My legs…?" he asked, feeling the weight missing as he attempted to find purchase in the bed, Emerald helped prop him up.

"Safe, the doctor removed them when they went in to stitch you up, you'll get them back when you're ready." Emerald soothed, looking up quickly as a tall, blonde man entered.

"Ah! You're awake, that's good. I was really worried when I came across you and your friend here, you looked worse than a man who'd just taken on an Ursa all by himself." The man smiled, a friendly aura permeated the room; Emerald even seemed to relax. He handed her a sandwich wrapped in foil and sat opposite from Mercury's hospital bed.

"I'm not gonna beat around the bush with you two, you've got a lot to explain to me; but I am also not going to push you right now either, you both look a little worse for wear. So let's start with something easy, ok?" he asked leaning forward. Emerald gulped, fidgeting with the foil on the sandwich

"…What are you two doing here?" he asked, the friendly tone turning a little stricter. Emerald frowned and looked up, eyes widening

"I know who you two are already, you think I didn't watch the Vytal festival with my girls participating in it? Last I saw, you just got shot in the leg by my daughter…'unprovoked' they called it too." he grunted, Mercury felt his stomach twist.

Xiao-Long…of course this would be her father, he was starting to see the resemblance, though it looked like she got her temper from elsewhere.

"…" Emerald worried her lip, the foil crinkling in her hands

"And those prosthetics aren't new, you've had them a long time, Mercury." He finished folding his hands and looking at him closely.

"Mercury nodded, gripping the sheets tightly,

"…would you believe us if I said that we were just trying to get away from something awful?" he asked after a few tense moment had passed, the only thing to break the silence was Emerald wringing the sandwich to death in her hands.

"…that'a a little vague for my taste but, yeah. I'll believe that." He smirked playfully, Mercury heaved a sigh of relief and threw his head back

"…we're just trying to lay low." He added quietly, the man nodded.

"Care to explain why?" he asked, looking between Mercury and Emerald.

"…It's kinda a long, complicated mess and I'm pretty sure you'll want us dead by the end of it." Emerald spoke up, glaring him down.

"C'mon, give me some credit, you don't know me yet and I've got time, my name's Taiyang, you can call me Tai for now and at the end we'll see if your assumption is correct." He stated pulling the chair closer. Tai waited patiently for one of them to start, Mercury tensed, trying not to make eye contact before he grunted and tossed his hands up in defeat

"We worked for Cinder."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the End-End. This just kinda gets it to a better point cause we're definitely in AU territories. So, this is it, hopefully it's more satisfying than the previous and for the sequel, cause there will be one apparently, there is gonna be some threesome action cause that was a huge request on FF.net. 
> 
> Thank you Every one for reading til the very end!


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